


with great power comes great parenting

by marvelsmostwanted



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Origin Story, Alternate title: Tony Stark attempts parenting, Fanart, Identity Porn, M/M, POV Alternating, Peter and MJ are interns, Science Experiments, Secret Identity, Steve Rogers and the 21st Century, Superfamily (Marvel), Undercover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-06
Updated: 2018-05-21
Packaged: 2019-03-14 11:13:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 33,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13588866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marvelsmostwanted/pseuds/marvelsmostwanted
Summary: Tony Stark’s favorite intern, Peter Parker, is struggling to keep his newfound superpowers a secret. Tony is just trying to keep him safe. Meanwhile, a nosy reporter has taken a sudden interest in both of them.(Alternately: Steve Rogers, newly arrived in the 21st century, is sent undercover by Nick Fury to find out where Spider-Man came from. He learns a few things about Tony Stark along the way.)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to the talented @bluepepperart for creating the art in this fic! It is beautiful and perfect and I am so excited to share it with the world. I've never had someone make artwork for one of my fics before, but I might have to recruit you again in the future.
> 
> Shoutout to the mods of the Peter-Tony Big Bang for organizing this and motivating me to actually publish something for once! This was a great idea. After watching Spider-Man: Homecoming, I had all kinds of feelings about Tony parenting Peter and they all came pouring out in this fic.
> 
> Readers - just a heads up, this fic doesn't really fit into any particular movie timeline, but it would be pre-Avengers and pre-Spider-Man: Homecoming.
> 
> Thank you for your patience with this; it took me much longer than expected to publish the later chapters.
> 
> Positive comments and kudos always welcome :)

Pepper could practically feel the anxiety radiating from the group of potential interns standing in front of her, glancing around nervously at the huge atrium in the lobby of Stark Industries. They were here for a brief tour, followed by individual interviews in her office to determine which two of them would actually make it. One of the new interns would work in the labs, and one would work in administration with Pepper. The lab intern was supposed to work directly for Tony, which meant they received hundreds of applications for the position, but seeing as the man was rarely spotted outside of his workshop, it was unlikely that they would even meet him. The interns usually ended up working with Dr. Bruce Banner instead, which was a less stressful but equally valuable experience as working for Tony.

Speaking of stress, Pepper was starting to feel her own nerves get worked up just being around these teenagers. What happened to the open-minded, confident applicants they had been on paper? She did not have time to go through a whole batch of applications all over again if none of these kids cut it. She hoped they came out of their shells in the interviews. Pepper was finally able to relax when, after showing them an entire floor of state-of-the-art labs, one of them - a girl with her hair in a messy bun and a general air of carelessness about her that somehow reminded Pepper of Tony - raised her hand.

“Yes, do you have a question?” Pepper asked a little too eagerly.

“Yeah,” said the girl. What was her name again? Pepper would have to check her list. Michaela? Michelle? “I’m not in a rush or anything, but are the interviews going to start soon? There’s a protest I’d like to get to by noon.”

Pepper was actually relieved to hear that she wasn’t the only one who was finding this whole thing tedious. “Yes,” she said smoothly. “In fact, we can head back to my office now.” They were actually right on time - it was almost as if Michelle knew that, despite the fact that she wasn’t wearing a watch. Hm. Pepper could use an assistant who knew how to manage their time, even if she did seem a little impatient.

They started to make their way back to the elevator, Pepper chattering away about the breakthrough science happening at Stark Industries due to their multi-million dollar lab facilities and the genius at the helm of R&D, Tony Stark himself (she always had to stop herself from rolling her eyes at that part, but it was in the script).

They had just reached the elevator when an all-too-familiar voice said, “Pep, they don’t want to hear about that. Tell them about the particle accelerator instead.”

Pepper looked up along with all of the interns to see Tony, who had appeared as if right on cue. “I already did,” she said, her tone pleasant but clipped.

Tony was undeterred. “Whatever. The particle accelerator isn’t even the coolest thing in here.” He continued in a stage whisper, “Did she show you the rocket launcher yet?”

“We don’t have a rocket launcher,” Pepper reminded him with a smile.

“Bet I could build one before they leave,” said Tony, and some of the interns looked excited at the prospect, finally showing some interest in something.

Most of them just looked starstruck. At Pepper’s pointed glare, Tony finally dropped the act and said, “Well, kids, have a good time. The chocolate waterfall is on the tenth floor. Don’t fall in.” Tony intentionally brushed by Pepper before he left. “I really could build a rocket launcher, you know," he said so only she could hear.

“Please don’t.”

“No promises!” Tony called over his shoulder, and then he disappeared down the hallway.

Pepper took a deep breath, ignoring the sudden burst of excited chatter as they finally stepped inside the elevator. She noticed that Michelle was the only one who still looked bored. It was as if she, too, did not have time for Tony Stark’s antics when they were on a schedule.

Maybe, Pepper thought, this group wouldn’t turn out to be so bad after all.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update 2/7/18: This chapter has been edited because I thought the timeline and alternating POV didn't flow well, so I re-arranged some parts. Nothing is re-written, just re-ordered, so if you already read it, you haven't missed anything!
> 
> Update 1/1/19: Fixed a few typos and inconsistencies.
> 
> I appreciate all of your comments and kudos!

The 21st century was exciting. Fast-paced. Shiny and new.

All of the books and videos said so, anyway. But right now, Steve was bored out of his mind. He had been confined to SHIELD headquarters and his apartment for the last two months, and he was getting cabin fever. Even though he was technically allowed to access all of the stores, coffee shops, and restaurants on the block between his apartment building and SHIELD, it was starting to feel like he was on house arrest. He had been to every single one of those places, and now he even had a little routine: he went to the same place for his coffee each morning; he bought pizza from the same place every Friday night. 

He had never been particularly good at routine. Even in the Army, things changed day to day. Steve liked to have a task or an assignment or something to accomplish, which is why he spent four hours a day at the gym, but it hardly helped. His “work” at SHIELD so far mostly consisted of catching up on what he had missed for the last 70 years, and feeling left out whenever he spoke to other agents, even the higher ups. _They_ always seemed to have something to do. He didn’t want to pester Nick Fury - he seemed like a busy man, and Steve knew that Fury had his best interests at heart - but this was getting ridiculous. Steve was tempted to visit the nearest airport and buy a ticket to someplace he’d never been. (Then again, his last trip on an airplane had not gone well, so maybe he should hold back on that particular impulse.)

It was only Day 57 of living in this century when Natasha Romanoff entered his life, or more specifically, his gym, and made things less boring.

“I have an assignment in Brunei starting next week,” she said without introducing herself or any sort of greeting. “Fury says you can come with me if you want.”

Steve, by now used to random strangers knowing exactly who he was, took this information in stride. “If I want?” He clarified, because he hadn’t really had any sort of freedom since arriving in the present.

Natasha shrugged like this was no big deal, although he suspected that she knew it was going to mark a shift in his lifestyle. “Figured you might want a change of scenery.”

His suspicion was confirmed as she confidently strode out of the room without waiting for an answer, her red hair like a beacon for him to follow.

***

It took a few weeks, but the walls around Steve's SHIELD colleagues started to come down. He learned that Natasha was from Russia, a place neither of them were eager to visit again, and that she had been trained someplace called the Red Room. In turn, he told Nat about Peggy and Bucky and the men he lost in the war, and the friends he lost after he woke up. In some small way, knowing that he wasn’t the only one with a mysterious past made him feel slightly less alien in this century. It also helped that Natasha was never starstruck around him. She didn’t seemed impressed by his super strength when they were sparring, and even encouraged him not to hold back. It was nice to have someone around who didn’t treat him with kid gloves, or like he was some sort of celebrity.

When Natasha introduced him to Phil Coulson, Steve was wary at first. Natasha told him that Coulson was her “handler” which meant that he was the agent in charge of sending her on missions. Even though Fury seemed like a decent guy, Steve was instantly skeptical of anyone who thought they had any semblance of control over Natasha Romanoff. As it turned out, Coulson was under no such illusions. That much became clear the instant he entered the room. Competence was written all over him - in his tailored suit, his calm expression, his almost bland facade - and Steve took his outstretched hand as the man smiled.

“Phil Coulson, it’s an honor to meet you,” he said. When Natasha coughed and said, “Nerd,” under her breath, Coulson just rolled his eyes.

Nat also introduced him to Clint Barton and Sam Wilson. Clint, according to his file, could hit any target and did it without any superpowers. When Steve met him, he just looked like a normal guy. Except for the fact that he was drinking coffee straight out of the pot in the communal kitchen. But he seemed nice. Sam, on the other hand, was an Air Force veteran who helped out at the local VA, an organization that had still been relatively new when Steve was in the Army. Steve was keenly aware that some veterans didn’t like talking about their time in the service, but Sam was refreshingly open about it and he always seemed interested in hearing what Steve had to say, even when he found himself rambling about the past, lost in reminiscence. For the first time, Steve felt like he might have made a real friend for a reason other than being co-workers at SHIELD.

With Sam, Clint, Natasha, and Coulson to talk to, SHIELD suddenly felt less like a prison and more like someplace he could actually fit in. It didn’t take him very long to figure out that this had been Natasha’s plan all along. She also managed to convince Fury to let him out on assignments, something that made him feel alive again: getting to travel, fight crime, and stop bad guys. That was pretty much his thing, even in a new century, and it all helped to make him feel like he was actually making a new life here and not just existing day to day. He felt proud of the work he was doing. Things were going well.

Of course, that was before he met Tony Stark.

***

“We’re taking the interns to Science and Tech Day at MIT,” Pepper announced on the sixth week of the internship. “You're supposed to be there anyway, and it will be a good experience for them. I've already signed them up for a few workshops and lectures.”

“You mean Show Off Day?” Tony clarified. He agreed that Peter and MJ, their two new interns, would be fascinated by it. He still couldn’t help but lodge a complaint against the premise of the thing. “Don't tell me that Oscorp will be there again. I'm not going if that asshole is going.”

"Tony,” Pepper said sternly.

“I'll take that as a yes." He rolled his eyes. “Alright, we’re bringing the suits," Tony decided. "I have to have cooler tech than him. I mean, it won't be difficult since he’ll probably just try to convince everyone that he invented the wheel, but -”

“Wait, Oscorp is going to be there?” MJ appeared next to them, and as usual, Peter was not far behind. MJ leveled a look at Pepper. “You didn't mention that before.”

“Okay, I know why I have beef with them, but what's up with you two?” Tony asked, noticing Peter’s equally sour expression.

“Flash,” they said at the same time. When Pepper and Tony looked at them blankly, Peter added, “Flash Thompson. He's a kid from school. He has an internship at Oscorp.”

“He's an asshole,” MJ supplied helpfully.

Pepper was starting to look nervous. “Well, the workshops should still be interesting,” she said uncomfortably. “I can make sure you're not in any with him if it's going to be a problem.”

“Why don't we just skip it?” Tony suggested.

"Because you funded most of it,” Pepper informed him. “Remember?”

“Oh, yeah. Shit. Listen, kids, if he gives you any trouble just remind him that Oscorp had to file for bankruptcy after their new ‘untraceable’ cell phones started biting people.”

***

Peter Parker entered Tony Stark’s life as a bright-eyed intern, ready to learn and eager to please. The only problem was, Tony realized after three days of having Peter follow him around, he had no idea what interns were actually supposed to be _doing_ all day. They were there for six hours. Wasn't that against child labor laws or something? Also, it was messing with Tony’s regular schedule of staying up until 4 AM and sleeping until noon.

Tony didn’t usually handle the interns. He hadn't really been impressed with the selection of teenagers thus far. Most of them just gaped at all of the lab equipment and had no idea how to use it. Even the microscopes, once. Who didn't know how to use a microscope? When Pepper explained that the whole point of the internship was for them to learn something from it, Tony scoffed and decided to let Bruce handle the baby scientists from now on.

Of course, Pepper badgered Tony anyway until he finally allowed the newest intern into his lab.

Eventually, they worked out a sort-of schedule: Peter spent the morning helping Bruce in his lab, doing boring intern things like cleaning lab equipment and recording data in Excel. In the afternoon, he joined Tony in his workshop to observe whatever project Tony happened to be working on. It gave him a glimpse into Tony Stark's brain, which meant the afternoons were chaotic and sometimes involved explosions. On any given day, Tony could be working on anything from the Iron Man suit to the computer code that created JARVIS. It wasn't exactly a comprehensive education since most of the calculations happened in Tony's head, but Peter always seemed fascinated anyway.

After three weeks of mostly watching Tony work, Peter started making suggestions.

They were good suggestions. They made sense. They… worked.

“Are you a genius?” Tony asked Peter suspiciously one day. He was sort of joking, but Peter flushed.

“I have an above average IQ,” he admitted. “But I thought you knew - I mean, MJ and I go to a science school for nerds. So. That's usually kind of a giveaway.”

He seemed embarrassed about it, but Tony wasn't having that. “Uh, I didn't exactly read your resume. I figured Pepper did that sort of thing. But there's no need to be ashamed of your nerd school, kid. I went to high school for one year and then I graduated from MIT at 17. It doesn't get nerdier than that.”

Although he would never admit it to Pepper, Tony was secretly pleased to have a competent intern for once. Peter wasn't just here so that he could tell his friends that he worked in Stark Tower or take sneaky pictures of their equipment and post them online (that intern had promptly been fired). He wasn't going to cozy up to Pepper in the hopes of getting a long term job or ask if he could put on the Iron Man suit. Peter was here because he was just… curious. He was also a huge nerd, but that meant he would fit right in. Tony was pleasantly surprised to find that he enjoyed the time he spent with the kid.

Things were also going well for Pepper and her intern, MJ, who seemed to have every task complete before she was even asked to do it. Stark Industries was running smoothly, and everyone was happy.

And then Peter became Spider-Man.

***

Science and Tech Day was cool. That was the only way of describing it. They walked into a huge atrium with balconies as high as they could see, where every kind of invention was on display: from hover-boards and robots that did chores to holographic displays and an actual flying car (“Completely impractical,” Tony scoffed).

After perusing the inventions for a solid hour, Peter and MJ were ushered into a workshop on the potential merits of underground travel, led by Tony himself. It was actually supposed to be on his latest updates to the Stark phone (which included the ability to start your car remotely and project images holographically) but he apparently changed his mind after seeing the flying car. It was still completely fascinating and Peter loved seeing Tony in his element. Even though he claimed to hate these events, it was obvious that Tony enjoyed the opportunity to teach others about things he thought about on a daily basis, which were completely novel to his captivated audience.

True to her word, Pepper kept them out of the same classes as Flash, but they still ran into him. “Hey, Penis Parker!” He called across the lobby, ensuring that a passing crowd of students stopped to look at them. Peter flushed, but didn't respond as Flash appeared beside them, looking unbearably smug as usual. “Did you see the flying car we brought? Pretty cool, right? I helped develop that. And what exactly did stupid Stark bring? A phone? It must suck working for someone so lame.”

“So you helped develop something completely pointless that will never work in the real world,” said MJ dryly. “Big deal.”

“It is a big deal!” Flash spluttered. “We’ve basically invented private flying vehicles, and what have you done?”

“Created the first skyscraper in New York that runs completely on renewable energy,” Peter pointed out.

“Which almost makes up for the carbon footprint of that flying monstrosity of yours,” MJ added. “Anyway, we have to go learn about something that might actually affect us in the future. Bye, Flash.”

Just as they turned the corner to get away from him, they ran into Tony himself. “I was going to step in, but you seemed to have that under control,” he said, grinning. He gave MJ a fist bump and clapped Peter on the shoulder. “Now, I get to lecture that kid for half an hour on why his boss is so stupid. Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all.”

Peter and MJ split up for their next lectures; she went upstairs to learn about grant writing, which sounded boring, while he stayed on the eighth floor to listen to a professor talk about how to growing food on rooftops in cities for when they finally ran out of land space and the population continued to grow. Peter started zoning out after a while; mainly what he gathered was that they were all screwed after the population hit 12 billion. It wasn't that the topic was boring, but the way the professor droned on was making him wonder when this would finally end.

He was about to doze off when he heard a crash from down below, followed by a scream.

The professor stopped talking and the entire class froze. Peter was sitting in the back near the door, so he got up to see what was going on. He stepped out to see other students poking their heads out of classrooms. He started walking over to the balcony, where he would be able to see all the way down into the lobby of the atrium. That was when he heard it.

“What the hell is that?” Another student asked, not daring to go as close as Peter had to see what was down below.

It was a repetitive clicking noise, growing louder and louder the closer he got to the balcony. He had just reached it and looked down when the alarm started screeching and a red light started flashing an emergency signal. “Please evacuate the building,” said a calm female voice, echoing through the lobby. “Emergency protocols should be followed. All personnel, please evacuate the building.” It was so loud that Peter had to cover his ears, but it still didn't distract him from what was down below:

Spiders.

Like, a lot of spiders.

Big ones. With red eyes that he could see from all the way up here. And a weird green glow around them.

The sound of people screaming behind him made Peter come to his senses, and he ran for the stairs along with everybody else. He had no idea what was going on, but clearly someone had let loose an army of giant spiders on them and he was not about to stick around and see how that turned out. He didn't even like regular sized spiders. These were something out of a nightmare, or a weird version of Harry Potter.

As Peter descended the stairs, more and more people - students, professors, harried-looking scientists - joined the chaos, looking for an exit. Peter was almost there when he literally ran into Ms. Potts. “Oh, Peter - thank God -” She was clutching a clipboard to her chest, and even as they were pushed a few more steps down the stairs, she managed to check him off a list. “Have you seen Michelle? I think she was listening to a presentation on the 14th floor…” Peter didn't even catch the rest of her sentence before he was dashing back upstairs. “Peter!” He heard Ms. Potts call after him, but he was too busy looking at every face he passed, and too worried because none of them were MJ. Those spiders could crawl up walls, and they were going fast. Clearly, they hadn't found the stairs yet, but it was possible that they had reached the upper floors already. Peter had been one of the first ones to react; he or Pepper would have seen MJ if she'd come down already. Which meant she was still upstairs. He was out of breath by the time he reached the eighth floor again, and he could hear loud clicking outside the stairwell. He pushed down the wave of fear and kept going.

***

Well, this sucked.

MJ was in the middle of listening to a kind middle-aged professor give a very boring talk when they had been suddenly interrupted by a blaring emergency alarm. At first, she thought it was just a fire drill or something stupid. But when they got outside the classroom, they had been met by a wave of giant creepy glowing spiders crawling up the walls.

She would bet money that they had something to do with an experiment that Oscorp fucked up.

Some of the students made it to the staircase before the first giant spider - and they were really giant, like three feet across - made it up and over the balcony and started shooting some kind of laser beams at them. That sent the rest of the class and the professor screaming, running, and hiding behind all available tables, desks, and chairs.  MJ didn't scream because she wanted to put off panicking as long as she plausibly could. Panicking was stupid. It made people do stupid things. So, she tried to stay calm and hid behind a bookshelf with a chair for a weapon in case she had to fight one off. So far, no one had been hurt, as far as she could tell, but a few of the tables that had been used as makeshift shields had been instantly cut into two by the lasers and the students behind them screamed and scattered. MJ even let one girl join her behind her bookshelf. She didn't like the way this was going.

Also, when the spiders got closer and she got a better look at the greenish glow they were giving off, she became pretty sure they were radioactive.

“This day just keeps getting better,” she muttered.

***

When Peter reached the eleventh floor, he started wishing he'd done more laps in gym when he had the chance. His heart was pounding and he was starting to sweat, but he kept going, one step at a time.

At floor twelve, he heard the distinctive sound of repulsors. The relief he felt was overwhelming. Iron Man. Tony. He would help them. The sound of repulsor blasts - picking off the spiders one by one, Peter guessed - followed him up the stairs until he finally, finally reached floor fourteen. The relief faded when he saw that the door was halfway off its hinges.

He crept around the corner and spotted some students cowering behind tables. There were at least two other tables that had already been sawed in half by - were those laser beams? What the hell? There were five giant spiders prowling around, being generally creepy and occasionally, completely unpredictably, shooting off lasers towards the crowd of students. Peter had the advantage of surprise, so he used it to grab a chair no one was using. None of the students were paying any attention to him, their gazes locked on the spiders. Peter felt reckless and stupid and he really had no idea what he was doing, but MJ was up here somewhere and he was not about to let her, or any of these other kids, get hit by one of those lasers.

In the distance, the sound of repulsor blasts emboldened him. If Tony could do it, so could Peter. Of course, Tony had a really fancy suit and a lot more life experience, but Peter wasn't really thinking about that right now. When one of the spiders got close enough, he used every ounce of his strength to smash the chair over its head. The result was - gross. It went splat, just like regular spiders, except it oozed some kind of bright green chemical instead of blood. For some reason, Peter had been expecting something a little cooler to happen. The good news was that it was dead. The bad news was that now all the other spiders were coming for him.

“Peter?!” MJ’s voice distracted him for a second, and it also distracted one of the spiders enough for her to use the chair she was holding - which was bigger than the chair he'd had; where did she even get that - to kill the spider in front of her. “Ugh, gross,” she said upon seeing the two dead ones. “Where did these even come from? I think they're radioactive.”

“I have no idea,” said Peter, and he stepped forward with the intention of killing Spider 3, feeling better now that he knew they could be killed. Only he forgot about the laser beams part. And then it lasered him in the leg.

At that point, the remaining students started yelling and running for the stairs. Peter had fallen against the wall, clutching his leg where it had been burned, but was still attached, which was good. Students rushed past him and only one of them stopped. MJ helped him up and he realized belatedly that in the confusion, she had killed Spider 3 after it got him.

“Thanks,” he said breathlessly.

“Thank me later. We need to get out of here.” MJ grabbed his arm and insistently tugged him toward the stairs. They were almost to the door when they heard someone cry out, “Hey, wait! Help!” They both turned to see Flash on the far side of the room, cowering behind a chair that was doing very little to protect him from an oncoming spider.

“Can't we just leave him?” MJ asked, deadpan, but she was already grabbing her chair again. Peter did the same, and they approached the spider from behind. They tried to go quietly, but Flash wasn't helping.

“Hurry up!” He complained, making a few weak jabs at the spider, too far away to really make an impact. “It's going to eat me or something!”

MJ rolled her eyes, and Peter almost laughed except then the spider turned on them. Shit. It moved so quickly that they both started backing away, and it abruptly became clear that it was going for MJ and her bigger chair. With his heart in his throat, Peter lunged from the side and crushed it with his chair, putting all of his weight behind it.

MJ didn't even flinch; she just wrinkled her nose at the dead mutant spider on the ground. “Those things really are disgusting.”

Flash was already booking it to the stairway, the coward. Peter turned to MJ, triumphant, when all of a sudden her face fell and a new voice joined the fray.

“Parker - look out!” Tony shouted.

Peter turned to find himself face to face with eight red eyes. He barely had time to register how screwed he was before he felt an excruciating pain in his side and shouted out. As he fell to the floor in pain, he was practically blinded by a repulsor blast that finished off the final spider.

Peter could hear MJ yelling at someone, but he couldn't quite make out the words. They kept fading in and out like he was underwater and when he blinked, everything went fuzzy, red and yellow and the weird green color of spider goo.

Right before he passed out, he thought, _I hope no one tells Aunt May about this._

***

Things went haywire after the Spider Incident.

Initially, it seemed like Peter would be fine. They took him to the hospital, but he woke up a few hours after losing consciousness, much to his aunt's relief. It appeared that he had passed out because of the pain, but it was difficult for the doctors to say whether or not there would be any lasting effects. They were still conducting tests on the mutant spiders to figure out what substances might have made their way into Peter's system.

The spiders were traced back to Oscorp three days after Peter left the hospital. Tony wasn't surprised, but he was angry. He didn't have much time to dwell on it, though, because then some... other things happened.

First, Peter started sticking to walls. This information was concerning to both him and Tony. They conferred with Bruce, trying to figure out if this was the only effect of the spider bite - because it was obvious that Peter's new ability could only be the result of the mutant spiders.

A few days after that, the super hearing kicked in. That was the worst part. Peter showed up at Stark Tower in the middle of the night, panicking because he could hear everything from blaring sirens in the street below to whispers a hundred miles away. Tony didn’t know what else to do, so he gave him a pair of noise-cancelling headphones. That seemed to help, but it was a temporary relief from a problem that wasn't going away.

The following days were some of the most stressful of Tony's life. While Bruce tried to figure out a way to help Peter focus on individual sounds so that he wasn’t hearing _everything_ at once, Tony worried that this wouldn’t be the last of their problems. What if Peter suddenly grew eight eyes or legs? They had no idea if, or when, the after-effects of the bite would subside. Would Peter be climbing up the side of a building one day and suddenly lose his ability to stick to things? Tony worried himself sick. Finally, Bruce threatened to turn into the Hulk if Tony kept stressing him out. Bruce ended up kicking Tony out of the lab and forcing him to work on something else for a few days.

The situation started to look up when Peter realized that he could focus his hearing when he was in a situation where he was forced to have all of his attention on one thing. Quiet moments were the worst - Peter had an exam one day and he was nearly driven insane by the clock ticking, pencils scratching, cars honking across town, to the extent that he had to ask to put his headphones in so he could focus - but adrenaline-inducing situations allowed him to drown everything else out. One day, he was in gym class and he saw some kids picking on Ned. It was like the rest of the world didn’t exist as Peter approached them. He excitedly told Tony about how he and Ned totally got beat up, but it was apparently worth it because Peter could hear exactly what the bullies were saying the whole time.

“Maybe pick a different method of testing your powers next time, huh?” Tony suggested as he held an ice pack to Peter’s face. This kid was going to be the death of him.

Looking back, that was around the time Tony should have started to get suspicious. Peter had just dsicovered his newfound powers, and it was easiest to handle them in high-adrenaline situations. The combination of those two facts couldn’t possibly end well. But Tony was too wrapped up in his own thoughts to notice when things started to change. He was busy trying to sue Oscorp for setting radioactive spiders on his kids (“they’re not your actual children,” Pepper reminded him), making plans for underground transportation to show up Oscorp’s stupid flying car, and monitoring Peter’s health. He was so caught up that he completely missed the obvious signs that Peter had taken things into his own hands.

Eventually, it was the quiet that alerted him to the fact that something was off.

When Peter first acquired his powers, he would ask Tony and Bruce a million questions. (“Am I going to be able to form webs, do you think?” “What if it turns out that I can turn into a spider like Bruce turns into Hulk?” “If I grew eight eyes, do you think I would see things eight times better or would I just see everything eight times?”) He settled down a bit once they were fairly sure that he had stopped developing new abilities. Sticking to walls and hearing things were manageable.

The questions started to die down, but they also took on a new tone: “What if I hear something bad happening, like someone getting mugged or worse? What should I do?”

“Call the police, or call me,” said Tony. “And I told you, wear the headphones at night. Just white noise or whatever. It will help.” He couldn’t let this kid be tortured by the sounds of the city every night.

Then Peter stopped asking questions altogether. His visits became briefer. His “internship” had already been extended into the fall to cover for the fact that he was getting regular checkups from Bruce to make sure he wasn’t gaining any new powers, and that he was handling the ones he had. Usually, Peter would stick around to trail Tony into his workshop, but now as soon as he had reassured the two adults that he was fine, he bolted.

“Peter’s being weird,” Tony mentioned to Bruce in the lab late one evening when they had both had too much coffee to sleep. “He left like five minutes after he got here today.”

Bruce glanced up from his microscope, seemingly unconcerned. “Maybe he had a lot of homework,” he suggested.

“But he used to do his homework here half the time,” Tony pointed out.

“Then maybe he had some club to get to, or maybe he was just hanging out with his friends?” Bruce shrugged. “Could be that his aunt wanted him home earlier. Why don’t you just ask him?”

Tony was getting exasperated. “Because he doesn’t hang around long enough for me to say anything! I barely get to say ‘hi’ and ‘bye’ these days.”

Bruce smirked as he went back to his microscope. “Maybe this is empty nest syndrome. You’re worried that he doesn’t need you anymore.”

“I’ve only known him for four months,” Tony grumbled, but a part of him wondered if Bruce was right. He was pretty attached to Peter, even if the kid was a handful.

After a couple of weeks during which Tony worried and Bruce tried to reassure him that nothing was wrong, Peter started lingering around the lab again. He still wasn’t asking a lot of questions, not like normal. When Tony asked about school, though, Peter chattered on about Ned and MJ and what they were learning in chemistry and how terrible PE was, and it was almost like things were normal again, only then Tony noticed the second thing that felt off: Peter was working on something.

It was only a suspicion. It started one day when Pepper pulled Tony out of the workshop so he could sign a few things, and when he came back, Peter pulled his hand out of a drawer so fast that he hit it on the table. Seriously, Tony was going to have to start keeping ice packs nearby just for Peter. His suspicion solidified into an actual concern later that week.

“Stark, did you borrow some of my lab equipment?” Bruce was frowning, which was never good, but he didn’t look green around the edges, just confused.

Tony was equally baffled. “Uh, no. I have a billion dollars and an entire workshop of my own. I don’t need to borrow your stuff.”

“And yet, you ‘accidentally’ take my coffee mug every time yours is empty,” Bruce said flatly. “I’m only asking because I thought a few test tubes and beakers went missing the other day, but I hadn’t done an inventory in a while so I wasn’t sure. Only now I can’t find -” He ran a hand through his hair, looking stressed. “The atomic force microscope just like, disappeared. How did I misplace that one? I’m sure it’s around somewhere. Maybe one of the grad students -”

“They haven’t been in since last week,” Tony realized as he said it. The atomic force microscope wasn’t the most expensive thing in the lab, but it was an oddly specific item for someone to take. It was the only microscope that had nanometer-level visuals. There were only a handful of people who would know how to use it, and fewer still doing experiments that would require one. “But -”

“Peter was here,” Bruce said, meeting Tony’s gaze. “But Peter wouldn’t -” He trailed off, leaving a heavy silence between them. _Would he?_ Tony honestly didn’t know. It did seem out of character for Peter to sneak around and steal their lab equipment, but he _had_ been fishing around in a drawer the other day when Tony was out of the room….

Somehow, Tony wasn’t willing to believe that Peter would do that to them without a good reason. Maybe it was wishful thinking given the evidence, but, “I told you, I think something’s going on with him,” he said to Bruce. “Let me talk to him.”

It all came together pretty quickly after that.

Tony decided to go to Peter’s house, because if he really had stolen the microscope then that was where it would find it. He met Peter’s aunt - who was surprisingly young - and they were having tea together when Peter finally came home from school, looking completely alarmed to see Tony there. Actually, the word Tony would use was _panicked._ Peter was always a little nervous around him, but this was different. God help the kid if he ever got into a situation where he actually had to lie to someone.

“Mr. Stark! What, uh -” Peter crossed and uncrossed his arms, visibly uncomfortable.

“What are you doing here? With my aunt?” He added pointedly.

“We were just having a cup of tea and talking about how _wonderful_ you’ve been at your internship,” said Tony, smiling just a little too wide. “I wanted to come here in person and tell your aunt -”

“Call me May, please," May insisted.

“- _May_ how responsible and smart you are, and how much we appreciate having you. I might even be able to put in a good word with MIT next year, if you’re interested.” He dropped a wink in May’s direction.

“Oh, we’re definitely interested in MIT,” she said emphatically. “Aren’t we, Peter?”

“Uh, sure,” said Peter, who still looked like he would rather be anywhere else.

A timer went off in the kitchen. “Oh, shoot! That’s our dinner. Don’t want to let it burn. Again. I’ll be right back, excuse me.” May stood and hurried to the kitchen.

As soon as they were alone, Peter hissed, “What are you doing here? Did you tell her -”

“No,” Tony cut him off, standing to face him. “I didn’t tell her anything. I wouldn’t do that. Because you’re a good kid and I trust you. Or at least, I thought I could trust you.”

“W-what?” Peter stammered, caught out.

Tony got straight to the point. “Bruce says a bunch of test tubes, beakers, and the _atomic force microscope_ all went missing from his lab in the last three days. You’re the only one who’s been in there besides him or me. Is there something you want to tell me, Parker?”

“I - I -”

“Are you being bribed by Oscorp to do this?” Tony wondered aloud.

“What? No, I - I didn’t -”

“Really?” Tony asked, pulling one of said test tubes from his pocket. It was full of some blue-ish liquid. “Because I found this in your room.”

Just as Peter’s eyes widened, May came back. “Tony, you should stay for dinner!”

 _Tony?_ Peter mouthed. He rolled his eyes.

“I’m afraid I can’t,” said Tony apologetically, turning his best puppy eyed look on her as he slid the test tube into his pocket. “Another time, for sure.”

They said their good-byes and Tony was almost to his car when Peter came running after him. “Here,” he said, handing him a rather heavy black bag. “It’s the microscope.” His face was beet red. “I’m really sorry, Mr. Stark. I shouldn’t have -”

“What the hell were you doing with this?” Tony asked.

“I - I - an experiment?” Peter said meekly, but Tony wasn’t buying that.

“This is for nanoparticles,” said Tony slowly. “What kind of experiment is a high school student doing that involves nanotechnology?”

Peter didn’t answer, but then again, Tony hadn’t really expected that he would.

A few nights later, Tony figured it out.

He had been out in the Iron Man suit, intimidating criminals and stopping petty crime when a strange call on the police scanner had grabbed his attention. Ten minutes later, he found himself standing in the middle of three very confused officers from the NYPD, all four of them looking at the thief with the same baffled look. Tony actually stepped out of the suit to see it better.

The thief was still wearing a ski mask, still holding the bag of precious jewelry, but he wasn’t getting away with this one. Someone had been kind enough to leave him for the cops, trapped and bound to the brick wall of the alley next to the jewelry store.

That in itself would have been strange, but the thief wasn’t just bound; he was _stuck_ to the wall.

Ten feet above street level.

He was stuck there with a strong, sticky-looking substance. Tony took his glasses off. It looked like -

“Is that a spider web?” One of the officers asked aloud.

A puzzle was coming together in Tony’s head, and it was forming a picture that he did not like. At all.

“Well, you boys seem to have this under control,” Tony said in a forced casual voice. “I have to go. JARVIS?” The suit re-formed itself around him, and he took off as soon as it was on.

It didn’t take long to find him. Tony landed on top of a building, looking down into an alleyway where two would-be muggers were getting their asses kicked by a vigilante in a red suit and black mask, who had the advantage of being able to climb the walls. He was also shooting the same web-like substance at them, and it was surprisingly strong. It knocked a gun out of one man’s hand - wait, he had a gun? Fuck. Before he could think about it, Tony knocked both guys out with two quick repulsor beams, landing in the dark alley between them and Peter.

Because _of course_ it was Peter.

He tried to run, the idiot. “Don’t even think about it!” Tony yelled, voice muffled by the robotic tone of the suit. He flew over Peter’s head and landed in front of him, trapping him in the alley. Peter could have climbed the walls to escape, but Iron Man could fly, so there wasn’t much point in trying.

“You know what’s weird?” Tony said as he stepped out of the suit for the second time that night, putting himself on Peter’s level as he walked closer. Peter took several steps backward, still refusing to reveal his face. “I just saw a guy hanging from a brick wall and he looked like he was covered in spider webs. Only, I don't think it was a spider. Did you know there’s only one known substance that’s stronger than spider’s silk?" He didn’t wait for an answer. “Carbon nanotubes. Which you can only engineer if you know how to use nanotechnology. And the weird thing is, I _just_ had this microscope stolen from me the other day. It was a microscope used for nanotechnology. Isn’t that weird, Peter?”

Finally, slowly, after a long beat of silence, Peter tugged the black ski mask off. Even though Tony knew it was him all along, it still came as a shock to see him standing there, looking so young and vulnerable in this dark alleyway in the middle of the night.

“Don’t you want to know how I did it?” He asked tentatively.

Tony sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Peter, I want to know what the hell you were thinking. It’s three in the morning. That guy had a gun. You could’ve been killed. Fighting crime isn’t some game you get to play now just because you have powers, understand?”

Peter looked properly ashamed, puppy eyes and all, but the only thing he said was, “Please don’t tell Aunt May.”

“I won’t,” Tony promised softly, unable to stay mad at him for long. “Come on, you can spend the rest of the night at the Tower. I’m guessing you told May you were sleeping over at Ned’s?” Peter nodded, and Tony rolled his eyes. “Well, you’re coming with me and we are getting you to school on time in the morning. Don’t whine to me about it when you’re exhausted in class tomorrow.”

“I won’t,” Peter mumbled.

“Good,” said Tony. Then he clapped a hand on Peter’s shoulder. “And yes, of course I want to know how you did it, you idiot.”

Tony didn't realize it at the time, but that night, he accidentally adopted New York City's youngest superhero.

***

“The timeline is suspicious to say the least,” said Fury, sliding a new folder across the desk to Steve. This one was thinner than Stark’s, full of pictures instead of documents. Each photo showed a different scene with the same two people: Iron Man and… someone else. A smaller blur, usually hard to see. In one photo there was a clear shot of his face. Well, his mask. It didn’t give any indication of the person’s identity. “The incident with the radioactive spiders at MIT happened in August. This guy,” he pointed to the blur, “emerged on the streets sometime in October. He calls himself Spider-Man. That’s not a coincidence.”

“You think he…” Steve trailed off, because he actually couldn’t even fathom what Fury was trying to imply. Sure, it was unlikely that a vigilante who could climb walls and shoot a web-like substance _didn’t_ have anything to do with radioactive spiders suddenly bursting into existence. But Steve had no idea how that kind of thing would even work; hell, he didn’t even know how the serum that made him into a super-soldier worked.

“I don’t know,” said Fury flatly, which actually made Steve feel a lot better. He was starting to wonder if radioactive spiders were commonplace in the 21st century and he had just missed it, but apparently that wasn’t the case. “But here’s what we do know: Stark and his interns went to Science and Tech Day. Radioactive spiders attacked people. There were no major injuries, but a few people had burns. They didn’t have any weird after-effects that we know of, but two months later, Spider-Man appears. And guess who he works with most frequently? Iron Man. Who, prior to this, was known for working alone.”

“So… Spider-Man must have been at MIT that day,” said Steve. “Right? And he must be close to Stark, which narrows it down.”

“Well, not necessarily. We don’t know where the radioactive spiders were being kept _before_ Science and Tech Day.” Fury sighed. “That idiot Osborn is still under investigation. And it could be that Stark was just tipped off about the radioactive spiders that day. Maybe he was inspired by it, or made some of his own. Who knows? Somehow, it seems like he’s linked to this Spider-Man. My concern is that if Stark, or someone else, has figured out how to create Spider-Man’s powers -”

“- then he could do it again.” Steve held back from rolling his eyes. He wasn’t sure what type of person Tony Stark was, just yet, but he was familiar with scientists who wanted to replicate the serum. They all wanted to play God or to create an army of super-soldiers. It never ended well.

“Exactly. But first of all, we need to figure out just who Spider-Man is and where he came from.” Fury dropped another two files on the desk. These two were even thinner than the one with the photos, containing just a resume and a photo each. One was a wide-eyed boy who looked about twelve, the other a girl with curly hair who looked about the same age.

“This is Peter Parker,” said Fury, pointing to his picture, “and this is Michelle Jones. They were the interns that went with Stark and Pepper Potts to MIT that day. Your assignment is to go undercover as a reporter doing a story on their internships, so you have an excuse to ask questions. Your credentials are taken care of.” He handed Steve an ID hanging from the end of a lanyard, shiny and new, with his picture staring back at him. It said _Press Pass_ on the back. “That’s your key,” said Fury. “Use it to open whatever doors you need until we get to the bottom of this.”

“Yes, sir,” said Steve. He didn’t have a good feeling about this.

A few days later, Steve put on a pair of glasses that he didn’t need, a tie he didn’t particularly like, and an unfamiliar camera around his neck. He wasn’t even sure that was necessary; he’d read that a lot of journalists, especially local ones, just used their phones nowadays. But he had to admit that when he looked in the mirror, it made him look more professional.

He carried a tan messenger bag that he never would have picked out for himself. It contained a notebook, a few pens, and an iPad that he barely knew how to use.

Steve didn’t feel ready, and the thought still sent a chill down his spine: He was going undercover.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! This is a work in progress and changes may be made to previous chapters as I go along (most likely, artwork being added or correcting typos that I come across). I'll be sure to make a note of it if that happens.
> 
> I'm planning to add the next chapter this weekend, 2/17 or 2/18. Apologies for the delay! I was busier than I expected this week and I want to make sure I have enough time to edit. 
> 
> Artwork by @bluepepperart on Tumblr.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter and Tony meet Steve the Reporter, Steve and Tony get lunch together, Natasha gives Steve some advice, and Steve does some digging.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for posting this chapter so late! I had more to write than I thought, and the last few weeks have been unexpectedly busy, but here it is! Apologies in advance for typos... feel free to point them out when you find them, because I'm sure there are some. Thanks for reading :)

On the first floor of Stark Tower, an intern ran through the spinning glass doors, the two coffees in her hand spilling a little as she bumped into someone. She paused only long enough to apologize before hurrying to get the caffeine to Ms. Potts’ office.

The someone in question was a graduate student working as a lab assistant, and he checked over the laptop in his arms, apparently determining that no damage was done, before moving on to the elevator. He re-emerged on the fourth floor, which was entirely state-of-the-art lab space. He greeted Dr. Bruce Banner. It appeared that the doctor had been waiting for him. They started walking and talking at the same time, Bruce tapping away at the tablet in his hands while the student listened intently. They passed another researcher as they walked, another young man, who threw a greeting to Bruce as he rushed past to the elevator.

Above it all stood Tony Stark, leaning on the seventh floor balcony and observing the chaos of the floors below as everyone he employed got to work. It was nine on a Tuesday morning. Tony was usually in his lab at this time or fast asleep, but he was expecting someone, and so he’d taken the opportunity to stop and observe. He didn’t often take the time to appreciate the immensity of what went on inside Stark Tower every day on the first five floors. The sixth and seventh floors contained conference rooms, the eighth through tenth guest rooms for visiting scientists and other guests, and Tony had renovated the remaining sixteen highest floors for Avengers only. He knew it was excessive but he told them he didn’t know how to do it any other way. It was mostly the truth. Pepper said it was because Tony wanted them to stay. He would neither confirm nor deny that statement.

He leaned further over the balcony railing. Below, the intern girl was now at the front desk, looking much more calm and collected than when she first arrived. The person she was talking to appeared to be a businessman and even from seven floors up, Tony could tell the guy was an asshole. However, the intern - Kelly? Katie? Something like that - kept a pleasant expression while she explained something to him. Tony was still watching the exchange when a ding behind him signaled that someone had arrived on this floor.

He turned to see a frazzled-looking Peter Parker step out of the elevator.

“Hey! I’ve been looking for you everywhere,” the teenager said before the doors had even closed behind him. “What are you doing on this floor? There’s nothing cool on this floor. Honestly, I’m surprised you’re even awake. Everyone I talked to said you would be asleep or working but when I checked your workshop you weren’t there, so I asked JARVIS and he told me you were here. Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about my new suit,” said Peter finally, excitement bright in his gaze. It was a wonder that he wasn’t out of breath from saying so many words so quickly, Tony thought.

He took a sip of his coffee. He had a feeling he was going to need it.

It was always like this when Peter was here, which was every day from 9 to 3 since he was pretending to complete his “summer internship.” Tony was still convinced that it was all a ploy concocted by Pepper to get him to be awake a reasonable hour. It was working remarkably well. After all, the hours Tony spent with Peter were usually productive, even if the kid did talk his ear off for a solid six hours sometimes. Pepper couldn’t stand being in the same room with them because she said there was too much “genius gibberish” going back and forth.

Pepper said that Tony should just finalize it with adoption papers.

Pepper had also pointed out that Peter was the only person for whom Tony would stop working and pay attention. Tony explained that it was because Peter was smart and often insightful, and Tony could use someone on his level to talk to once in awhile. Pepper gently reminded him that he didn’t do the same for Bruce. Although he refused to admit it to Pepper, Tony grudgingly admitted to himself that he was a sucker for Peter’s puppy-eyed look.

Which Peter was giving to him now.

“Alright, new suit,” Tony said finally, moving away from the balcony. “What about it?" 

Three months had passed since Peter became Spider-Man and Peter’s prolonged “internship” had ended, but Peter still came to the Tower a few times a week just to hang out or ask questions or modify the suit.

Tony didn’t approve of Peter going out to fight crime, but Peter kept doing it anyway. The kid was ridiculously stubborn. Eventually, they came to a compromise: When Peter went out, he had to tell Tony. That way, Tony could either be there in the Iron Man suit, or if he was out of town, he could send one of the suits and operate it remotely. He preferred to be there in person, but he did what he could. Peter complained that it was like having a babysitter, but he stopped complaining after Iron Man saved his neck more than a few times.

Peter’s visits were more focused on his suit nowadays than his actual health, which Tony frequently reminded him could change drastically at any moment. Tony didn’t worry constantly about Peter, but it was a near thing. He was keenly aware that Peter’s powers could still prove to be temporary or some kind of biochemical fluke. That was why he steered Peter toward Bruce’s lab even as Peter started listing things he had questions about.

The kid talked so fast that he ended up breathless. “Well, I was out the other night and it was getting cold, like, _really_ cold, and I was thinking about how the suit could maybe be more insulated – not that I’m complaining. It’s great and all. But it just got me thinking, what if I’m up really high like you told me you were that one time and you almost froze?”

“I literally can’t imagine what you would be doing in the stratosphere,” said Tony dryly. “There’s a reason I didn’t give you a suit that could fly.”

Peter ignored him. “I’m not saying I need to be warm and cozy all the time, although that would be nice, but maybe if we made the suit out of a material that conducts electricity, we could heat it up -”

“What if someone drops you in a lake?”

“Right, right, good point, and I thought of that, so it would also have to be waterproof, and I don’t know what material would do that.”

“Probably none of them,” said Tony. “Hey, kid, time for your bi-weekly checkup.”

 “Do you mean every two weeks or twice a week?” Peter asked as he obediently hopped up on top of a lab bench, which was not something he was supposed to do and also not a formal way to conduct a checkup, but Bruce wasn’t a real medical doctor either, so they were making do with what that had.

Bruce sighed and looked up from his work, putting it aside to come over to check Peter’s ears, eyes, lungs, and to take a tiny blood sample like he did every time Peter showed up. Peter sat still and cooperated, but continued to chatter through the whole thing.

“It depends on when you show up,” Tony said in response to his earlier question. “As often as possible, if it were up to me. We need to know that your powers aren’t changing or doing anything weird to your body.”

Bruce raised his eyebrows. “As I’ve reminded you both about eighty times, Peter seems fine and as it’s unlikely that he will develop any more powers now that it’s been a few months since -”

“There you are!”

All three of them jumped and Peter slid off the lab bench, knocking aside a sterile needle on the way. They tried and completely failed to look nonchalant. 

Pepper had a bright smile on her face, the type she always had when Tony was causing her stress but she was in public, so she couldn’t show it. It didn’t make sense until Tony’s gaze slid over to the man next to her - tall, blonde, and _wow_ , but also holding a notebook and a camera and looking distinctly like a reporter. Exactly the kind of person who needed to stay as far away from Peter as physically possible. 

Tony shifted slightly in front of Peter as if that would hide him from sight. Unhelpfully, Peter just peeked around his shoulder. 

“Hey, Pep, who’s this?” Tony’s voice sounded strained even to his own ears. He couldn’t help it; he wasn’t used to people intruding on his space or his… Peter and Bruce. (He did not think of them as a small science family. He did not.) 

Pepper’s smile was a little more genuine as she said, “This is Steve Carter. He’s a reporter with the _Times_. He’d like to write a piece about the prestigious internships that Stark Industries has to offer. He wants to interview Michelle and Peter, and you. I figured since Peter was already here -”

“I’m afraid that won’t be possible,” said Tony tersely, already annoyed for reasons he couldn’t quite explain. “We’re very busy here, you see,” he said to the reporter, whose blue eyes definitely weren’t distracting behind glasses that somehow made him more attractive. “Doing, uh,” he looked around, “science. Very advanced stuff. Which will take a long time. We can’t just give every journalist who wanders in here a story. I’m sure you understand.”

“Actually, I’m not doing anything,” Peter piped up, stepping around Tony so that Steve could see him better. “I’m free for an interview right now if you want.” 

The reporter looked a little baffled by the varied responses he was receiving, but he took it in stride. “That’s great,” he said. “You must be Peter?”

Tony looked around. “I’m sorry, has everyone gone deaf suddenly? I said no. I mean, really? Pep, I haven’t even seen any press credentials on this guy.”

Still smiling in an infuriatingly pretty way, the reporter holds out a valid-looking ID. Tony actually has no clue what real press credentials look like, so he just says, “I don’t like being handed things.” 

Pepper clears her throat. “I checked his credentials earlier, Tony,” she said tightly. She turned to the reporter with another stunning smile. “Steve, why don’t you and Peter go down to my office? It’s much cozier there. Actually, Bruce, would you mind showing them the way? I need to speak with Tony for a second.”

Tony started to object to Peter being removed from the room, but as Bruce passed he said dryly, “I’ll make sure he doesn’t spill any company secrets.” Tony assumed that included Peter’s powers and the fact that he was Spider-Man - a fact that only he and Bruce knew. Not even Pepper was in on that one. She knew about Peter’s powers, but Tony wasn’t quite sure whether he should burden her with the knowledge that he was also a teenage vigilante.

He felt slightly better knowing that Bruce would be there to protect their most important secret, but he was still uncomfortable as he watched the three of them exit the room. As soon as the door closed, Pepper turned on him. “Was all of that really necessary?” She asked reasonably. “Tony, this is a good PR opportunity for the company. And it’s a good chance for Peter and Michelle to get their names out there. I don’t understand why you can’t just let him do his job.”

“You know why I don’t want a reporter in here snooping around,” Tony replied with his arms crossed over his chest. He gestured to where Peter had just been standing. “If he gets any idea - _any idea_ \- that the kid has powers -”

“You don’t think I know that?” Pepper asked him, looking almost disappointed. “Tony, I like Peter too. I don’t want him to get hurt. I know it would be incredibly dangerous if anyone found out about what he can do. But I also know that it looks way more suspicious to refuse a normal interview about internships than it does to just let the man do his work and leave.” She lowered her voice even though they were alone in the lab. “This is actually a good chance for us to publicize just how _normal_ things are around here. We don’t need any rumors spreading that we’re secretive and anti-social. It makes it seem like we’re hiding something.”

Tony hated to admit it, but she was right. “Look, I just -” He didn’t have a good excuse for his behavior. “I’m sorry,” he said finally. “Okay? Peter’s just a kid. I am just trying to keep it that way. He doesn’t need his name in the headlines for any reason.”

“He’s not you, Tony,” said Pepper softly.

Finally, they had pinpointed the reason that this scenario made Tony so uncomfortable. Not only was he protective of Peter, he was also very aware of how publicity could affect a young person, because it had happened to him. It had simply been his reality as a child and as a teenager that there would be cameras in his face every time he stepped out in public.

Tony sighed. “I know that.” Spider-Man had made a few headlines here or there, but that was different. If Peter’s name, or his face, were in the New York Times? That put him in a whole different kind of danger. Tony thought of how Peter refused to even tell his aunt about his powers because of how scared he was to put her in danger, and he barely refrained from a shudder. It would be a disaster for everyone involved if Peter’s secret got out.

Pepper glanced at her watch. “I’ll go check on them,” she said. “Stop worrying so much. Peter’s a smart kid.” She gave him a small smile, a real one this time. “He’s a good kid, Tony. He’ll be fine.”

***

Fury had been right; Steve decided. Tony Stark was a handful. And he was nothing like Howard.

Well, Steve amended in his head, he was a little like Howard. For one thing, Tony looked like Howard’s son. Steve had already known that from his file, but seeing him in person gave him a strange sort of deja vu, especially because they found him in a lab. It was a lab unlike any Steve had seen before, but he wasn’t exactly a scientist, so he couldn’t say for sure if Stark Industries had top-of-the-line equipment or if it was just what modern science looked like. The stubbornness, too, reminded him of Howard. _I don’t like being handed things._ Tony was definitely his own unique brand of genius, but it was obvious that he also had his father’s stubborn will to see a project through.

Steve couldn’t quite figure out why Tony was so opposed to him at first, but then he realized that strangers, and unfamiliar journalists in particular, were usually up to no good when they sought out Tony Stark’s company. Tony was rich, famous, smart, and handsome (Steve could admit that in the 21st century), and there were endless reasons for him to be suspicious of anyone looking to publicize the internal workings of his company.

Steve hoped he had emphasized to Pepper that he meant no ill will, and she seemed to trust him. She also seemed to run things. That was working to his advantage so far. He wondered if Pepper could convince Tony to trust him, but he doubted it.

He was pretty sure that gaining Tony Stark’s trust would be an uphill battle, and it was a battle that he would have to fight on his own.

 ***

“What did he ask you about?” Tony asked as soon as Steve left. “Did he say anything about Oscorp? Pepper said his backstory checks out but I’m not convinced.”

They were on Tony’s personal floor, with Peter sitting on the kitchen counter eating leftover pizza. Ever since he got his powers, the kid had twice the appetite of a normal teenage boy.

“He didn’t ask about Oscorp,” Peter said between bites. “He just asked boring stuff. What school I went to, what subjects I was interested in, why I wanted the internship. That sort of thing.”

Tony stared at him for a minute. “Did he ask why you were here?” He was still suspicious. “He must have been wondering. Your ‘extended’ internship was supposed to be over by now.” He started pacing.

Peter didn’t even blink. “I told him that there was some stuff you and Bruce started working on while I was an intern that I found interesting and you let me hang around sometimes to check it out. Don’t worry. I made it seem like I was just a huge nerd.”

“You _are_ a huge nerd,” Tony reminded him, and when Peter raised an eyebrow he rushed to add, “Nothing wrong with that, of course. Are you sure he didn’t mention Oscorp at all? Nothing about MIT or spiders or -”

“No,” Peter insisted. “Plus, even if he did mention it, I wouldn’t have just told him I’m Spider-Man.” They both glanced around when he said that aloud even though there was no one else there. Peter lowered his voice a bit anyway. “I’m not going to give away any secrets, Mr. Stark. They’re my secrets, remember? I don’t exactly want anything suspicious in the newspaper. I won’t tell him."

Tony sighed. The kid was probably right. He worried too much - wait. “Wait, did you say ‘won’t’ tell him?”

Peter hesitated before he said quickly, “He’s doing a whole big article on the internships so it’s going to take more than one interview. I thought Ms. Potts told you.”

“He’s coming back?” Tony demanded. When Peter nodded, he rolled his eyes. “Oh, God.” And he had _just_ decided not to worry about this. Now he couldn’t stop wondering what this weirdly handsome journalist wanted with his son. (Uh, his intern. Whatever.) He put his head in his hands. “This really cannot be good.”

*** 

“So, who’s this guy?” MJ asked Peter the next day at school, slamming her locker shut and making Ned jump. Peter was pretty sure she did it just for her own amusement. Ned was always looking at his phone, and he was startled by the noise every time.

Ned looked at her blankly. “What guy?”

“The interviewer Peter was just telling us about two seconds ago?” MJ said, exasperated. She managed to shove all of her books into her bag and the three of them started down the hall toward chemistry class. “The hot one.”

“I did not say he was hot,” Peter said quickly, although he could admit to himself that Steve _was_ good-looking. It was just a fact. 

He wasn’t looking at her face, but he felt MJ rolling her eyes at him. “You said he was tall and blonde and that Tony hated him on sight.” 

“I’m sorry,” Ned interrupted, “who are we talking about? Johnny Storm?” 

“I did _not_ say he was hot anywhere in that sentence,” Peter insisted.

 “Well, Johnny Storm is hot. I mean, literally,” said Ned.

Peter stopped walking in the middle of the hallway, forcing both of them to turn and look at him. “Guys, it doesn’t matter what he looked like,” he said. “And no, he wasn’t Johnny Storm,” he added as Ned opened his mouth to ask. “Although, he did kind of look like him, but with glasses. I don’t think it’s anything suspicious, but Mr. Stark was trying to keep me away from him for some reason. He kept asking if I thought he was from Oscorp, but I think he’s really just a reporter.”

“Tony doesn’t trust anybody,” MJ pointed out, “except Pepper. And his friend Rhodey that he talks about sometimes.”

“How do you even know that?” Peter muttered.

She smirked. “I have my ways. Anyway, Pepper scheduled my first interview with this guy on Thursday, so,” she started walking again, turning her back on both of them. “I’ll be the judge of whether or not he’s hot. Literally or metaphorically.”

Peter groaned, and Ned said in a theatrical whisper, “Maybe he’s trying to get you to join the Fantastic Four!” 

“He's not Johnny Storm – and also, then it would be the Fantastic Five. That just doesn’t have the same ring to it.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Ned sighed as the bell rang for class.

***

On Thursday morning, Tony slid across Pepper’s desk and perched on the end, swinging his feet like a little kid and holding a mug of steaming coffee.

She raised one eyebrow and didn’t look up from what she was typing as she pointedly moved her laptop away from where he sat, safely out of range of any potential coffee spills. “Can I help you, Mr. Stark?” She asked lightly.

“As a matter of fact, you can, Ms. Potts,” said Tony, doing his best to act like someone who was normally awake at this hour. “I just stopped by to see what was on the agenda for today.”

Pepper stopped typing to look at him. “The agenda,” she repeated flatly. “You have never, not once in the seven years that I have worked for you, asked about a schedule before. Are you feeling okay?” She didn’t give him time to answer before leveling him with a suspicious glare. “Is this about Steve?” 

Jesus, that woman was good. “Just curious as to what time he’ll be here today,” said Tony lightly. “Isn’t it good business practice to know who I’m allowing to interview _my_ interns in _my_ lab? What if he’s not really a reporter? What if this is corporate espionage?” Pepper raised an eyebrow. Tony put his coffee down, keeping it a careful distance from her laptop. “Okay, I didn’t mean to make it sound quite that much like a conspiracy theory.”

“Tony, don’t be ridiculous. Steve is not a corporate spy.” Pepper’s tone made it clear that she was done with this conversation already.

As she went back to working on her laptop, Tony rushed to say, “I thought you would be happy that I want to be more involved.”

Pepper paused, glared, and then opened her desk drawer and handed him a thin manila folder. Tony opened it to find copies of Steve Carter’s driver’s license and press credentials inside, along with a signed agreement that Steve wouldn’t use the information he gathered to slander SI’s name. Tony wasn’t an expert on identity fraud, but he was pretty sure that it was all real, and if it wasn’t, that the signed form meant they could at least sue him. “I… see you checked all of the boxes,” he said carefully. He should have known better than to question Pepper’s methods.

“I did,” she said in a way that plainly said _I told you so._ “So if you could find something else to do besides make MJ nervous at her interview with Steve today, that would be great.”

Tony understood that he had been dismissed. As he walked back toward the labs, he formulated a new plan. Despite the documentation he had just seen, he still didn’t trust Steve the Reporter. He was too convenient, too timely, too… handsome, was the word that popped into Tony’s head. It didn’t make logical sense, but Tony felt like something was off.

 Which is why, that afternoon, Tony followed Steve out of Stark Tower after his interview with MJ.

Tony followed him on foot. He would have preferred to take a car to avoid being recognized, but Steve always walked to the Tower, so it wasn’t an option. Tony put on a leather jacket over his AC/DC t-shirt, and he donned a baseball cap and aviators to blend in. He waited ten seconds after Steve left the building, and then he snuck out a side door to follow.

It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm, and that meant that New Yorkers were taking their lunch breaks outside. Tony quickly realized that it was nearly impossible to follow someone on the sidewalk in the city. Tony briefly lost sight of Steve about eight times, only to find his blue hat again in the crowd up ahead.

“Where are you going,” Tony muttered to himself when they had been doing this little dance for about fifteen minutes and he lost sight of Steve again. This time, he didn’t see him anywhere. “JARVIS, location,” he said aloud as he paused at an intersection, unsure if he should cross the street or take a left and continue on the sidewalk. 

“Checking security footage,” said JARVIS in his ear. “Mr. Carter is headed north on 5th Avenue, sir.”

Across the street and to the right, then. Tony crossed as soon as the light turned green, but even as he hurried across the next street, Steve was nowhere in sight. And - “This is Central Park,” he muttered to himself. “JARVIS, check the cameras." 

The only benefit to the challenge of finding Steve was that it meant Steve likely hadn’t realized he was being followed. Unless, Tony thought darkly, he’d been trained to shake a tail. “Scanning for facial recognition,” said JARVIS. “This may take up to 30 minutes given heavy crowds.” Tony groaned. Steve chose the perfect place to disappear: Central Park on a sunny day. There were thousands of people in the immediate area and it would take forever to sort through them all. Before giving up, he decided to continue on foot. He couldn’t have gotten that far.

Tony hadn’t been to Central Park in ages – mostly because he would be recognized – but he had flown over it a number of times, and it was always a sight to behold. Today, it was overflowing with family picnics and Frisbee players. It was sort of peaceful to walk through.

Tony had almost forgotten that he was looking for someone when a voice said, “Oh, hey.”

He turned to find Steve the Reporter sitting on a park bench with a sketchbook open on his lap, looking up at him with a half-smile. Genuine surprise was difficult to fake, and Steve’s tone of voice didn’t sound like a man who had realized he had been followed here.

Tony cleared his throat. “Hello,” he said nonchalantly, like he hadn’t just spent the last half hour scurrying through the streets of New York trying to find him. “Are you following me outside of the Tower now, too?” (The best way to avoid looking guilty was to accuse the other person of the crime. At least, it was according to the plan that Tony just made up on the spot.)

Steve’s smile widened, and he ducked his head. “Are you this suspicious of everybody?” He asked when he looked back at Tony. God, his eyes were blue. The way the sun was shining on his face at that angle – right, he was totally a corporate spy. A really good one. Very distracting.

“Only the handsome ones,” said Tony as he casually sat down next to Steve like hanging out in Central Park was something they did every day. “Whatcha got there?” He asked, glancing over to Steve’s sketchbook.

“Oh – it’s nothing,” Steve said as Tony, not known for his patience, snatched it out of his lap. Steve didn’t protest, and he only half-smiled when Tony glanced at him for confirmation that it was okay for him to look at it. “Really, it’s nothing. Just a hobby,” he said.

Tony wasn’t sure what he was expecting to find – the blueprints of Stark Tower, maybe, with the Oscorp logo stamped on every page – but it was not this. He flipped through the pages, some of them catching in the light breeze coming across the park. It appeared that Steve actually did enjoy drawing. And he was _really_ good at it. Tony was no art critic (as Pepper frequently reminded him when he questioned her choices for the Tower’s gallery), but he was fairly sure that Steve the Reporter could do this as more than “just a hobby.” There were sketches of the city skyline in intricate detail. The next page showed a scene of the park. It appeared as though Steve had put thought into every line, every shadow, until the families picnicking and the cars rushing by in the background came to life in black and white.

He could feel Steve glancing over his shoulder. Somehow, his _Gotcha_ moment had turned into a moment of reluctant appreciation for Steve’s talent. Tony felt like he was peering into Steve’s head. It was surprisingly intimate to get a glimpse of the way that someone else saw the world. 

“Uh,” said Tony as he turned the page. “This is really good.” That was all that he, Tony Stark, genius billionaire, could come up with. Words like _exquisite_ and _beautiful_ danced through his head as he stared at the drawing of a man and woman, both in old-fashioned uniforms, both stunning. He felt Steve shift beside him, probably not sure how to respond. “Are these – people you know?” They looked vaguely familiar to Tony – maybe Steve had drawn them from photos in a book or a museum.

“What? Oh, um, no,” said Steve distractedly, and with that, he carefully reached across Tony to take the sketchbook back and snapped it shut in his lap. “They’re from a photo in the newspaper, a while back. One of my colleagues did a feature on one of the last living World War I veterans, and she provided us with that photo. I’ve been practicing drawing people, and I just… liked the picture.”

“Huh,” Tony frowned. So this was what Steve the Reporter did in his spare time. He sat at the park and drew pictures of the world, probably right before he helped a little old lady across the street. Tony almost felt bad for following him. Except that he didn’t, and he wasn’t over his suspicion quite yet. “You’re pretty talented. A writer _and_ an artist?”

“Says the genius, billionaire, scientist, engineer, philanthropist…” Steve listed, and Tony had to admit, stoking his ego was working. He grinned. “Hey,” said Steve. “You want to grab some lunch?” He gestured to the hot dog vendor across from them. 

“Lunch,” Tony repeated. The subject change did not go unnoticed, but a hot dog sounded a lot better than whatever green smoothie was waiting for him back at the Tower. “Sure.”

And that’s how Tony ended up sitting side-by-side with Steve the Reporter on a park bench eating a hot dog instead of doing the undercover stake-out he had originally planned.

It turned out that Steve the Reporter, aside from being a talented writer, excellent artist, and generally handsome person, was also decent company. They sat on the bench and got to talking about Steve’s habit of people-watching in Central Park.

“Those two? Definitely secret agents,” said Tony confidently about two businesslike men in suits, each holding a briefcase as they walked by. “You can tell by the cheap ties,” he said in a stage whisper.

Steve wasn’t naïve enough to think that Tony wasn’t fishing for information with that one. He was equal unsubtle in changing the subject. He nodded toward a young woman with blue hair. “She wants to be an artist, but her parents want her to go to law school.”

“That dude,” Tony said, looking over his shoulder to a middle-aged man in a fedora walking a poodle, “ _did_ go to law school and he’s currently having an identity crisis.”

Steve snorted. “They’re dating, but they don’t know it yet.” He indicated a teenage couple strolling through the park, each holding a coffee in one hand and their cell phone in the other. 

“And that guy’s paparazzi,” said Tony.

“Are you suspicious of everyone?” Steve started to ask, and then his gaze followed Tony’s to a man with sunglasses on and a large camera aimed at them. He was actually trying to hide behind a shrub and failing completely. “We should go,” he said, turning toward Tony so that his body would at least partly obscure the man’s line of sight. 

Tony looked at Steve for any sign that he had known the paparazzi was coming – but it would have been nearly impossible for Steve to anticipate that Tony was going to follow him, call a pap, and organize this without Tony noticing – and he looked even more surprised than Tony at the turn of events. “Yeah, I suppose so. Listen, will it bother you a lot if those pictures end up in the tabloids?” As they stood, Tony put a hand on Steve’s shoulder and led him away from their personal photographer. “Because I don’t really care, but Pepper can work her magic and make them disappear if that’s what you want.”

“I don’t mind,” Steve said casually. “As long as the headline labels me as a ‘hot blonde,’ I’m on board.”

Tony smiled brightly. “Oh, I’ll make sure of it,” he promised.

***

Steve breathed a sigh of relief as soon as he and Tony went their separate ways. Aside from the surprise paparazzi – which, he realized now, would mean that Fury would find out about this -  their afternoon together had been nice.

It had been so nice, in fact, that Steve didn’t want to think about it too much. He wasn’t sure what to make of the fact that he and Tony Stark might have been friends in another life. 

Unfortunately, one nice conversation didn’t mean that Steve wasn’t undercover. He was abruptly reminded of that fact when Tony looked through the sketchbook. It had been a close call. Steve made up some story, detailed enough that it sounded legitimate, simple enough that it sounded plausible, to cover the fact that he had been drawing Peggy and Bucky. Frankly, he was lucky that Tony hadn’t recognized them. Steve knew there were pictures of Howard with the two of them, and only the fact that Tony avoided thinking about Howard as much as possible had saved his identity from being revealed in the middle of Central Park.

Steve had been Steve the Reporter for less than a week, and he was already struggling to stay undercover. He was surprised to find that he wanted to keep his identity a secret for a while longer - not just because he wanted to complete the mission and find out what Tony had to do with Spider-Man, but because even in the span of a few short days, he had grown fond of Tony and Pepper and even Peter, who was a bright, charming kid. He could see why Tony was protective of him. And Steve had a feeling that there were layers to Tony Stark that he hadn't even begun to understand. He didn't enjoy lying, but he was willing to stay undercover for a few more weeks if it meant getting to know Tony. Of course, he didn't want to think of what came after that.

Steve was self-aware enough to realize that his interest in Tony went deeper than mere curiosity. If Tony had turned one more page in Steve's sketchbook, then he would’ve seen a picture of himself. Well, a part of himself. The top half. After their first meeting, Steve had been itching to draw a picture of Tony, and he did just that when he got home. At first, he focused on his face: all the ways that he looked like Howard, all the ways that he didn’t; he penciled in the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes and the stubborn tilt to his mouth. He found himself drawing Tony’s stance, protective of Peter with his arms crossed across his chest. 

And of course, the arc reactor. That, Steve drew with careful attention. He didn’t know what it was at first, but he could tell easily enough that it was a replacement for a heart. It wasn’t difficult to assume that the technology was keeping Tony alive. 

He studied it for maybe a little bit too long. Today, when they were together, Steve had studiously kept his eyes off of it, not wanting to seem overly curious.

The thing was, no one told Steve about the arc reactor, and he didn’t know how to ask without sounding rude. He only knew it was called an arc reactor because Peter mentioned it while he was babbling about all the cool things Tony had invented. Steve honestly didn’t remember how they got on the topic. Peter just talked constantly; it was inevitable that he would bring up Tony, because he seemed captivated by the man. It was endearing, but Steve couldn’t exactly press Peter for details about his mentor without him becoming suspicious. 

A few days earlier, when he wasn’t playing Steve the Reporter and he was just Steve, he had decided to ask Natasha. She invited him over for a casual movie night, just the two of them, and they were watching _Ocean’s Eleven_ with three boxes of pizza (two were just for Steve) and a few glasses of wine. It was nice. Steve wouldn’t have been able to have this kind of friendship with a woman 70 years ago, and his friendship with Nat was invaluable to him, even if it meant a ribbing from Sam or Clint every once in a while. 

“Something’s bothering you,” Natasha said about halfway through the movie, grabbing the remote to turn the volume down. “What is it?” Steve knew he wouldn’t get out of this without telling the whole truth, not with the way she was looking at him like she could read his thoughts.

“It’s –“ Steve began haltingly.

A small smile appeared on Natasha’s lips. “It’s Stark, isn’t it?” She shook her head. “What did he do this time?”

Steve wasn’t sure where to begin, so he decided to deflect. “What do you know about Stark?” He knew Natasha was familiar with Tony, but he wasn’t sure if she had ever actually met him.

Nat didn’t call him on the subject change, looking thoughtful as she answered. “I had a mission a while back to keep an eye on the CEO of Stark Industries. Not Pepper,” she added quickly at Steve’s surprised expression, “but the former CEO. I don’t suppose you know much about it?”

Steve shook his head. The history of Tony’s company hadn’t seemed relevant to interviewing a couple of interns, so he hadn’t looked into it.

Nat sighed. “I didn’t think so. Look, it’s not exactly my place to tell you what happened, but suffice it to say it’s a long story. One that changed Tony. A lot. I wasn’t there to spy on him, but against my better judgement, I got to know him pretty well anyway. Tony isn’t a bad guy, he’s just –” She searched for the right words. “He was raised by wealthy parents who had no idea how to take care of a child, and then he went through a series of traumatic experiences as a young adult that shaped who he became. And at first, he became an asshole,” she said bluntly. “He was a mess. The partying was out of control. He was reckless with his money, and he didn’t care. The mission that I was sent on – it changed all of that. Like I said, it made Tony a different person when Obe- when he went through that. I doubt his interpersonal skills have improved much,” she said dryly, “but he is trying. Or he was, when I was there.” She frowned. “Sorry, I was required to give my opinion for a psych analysis of him after my mission, so there’s plenty I could say on the subject.”

“It’s fine; I asked,” said Steve, trying not to act too eager. Her vague description of _traumatic events_ sent his thoughts racing. He knew that Howard hadn’t exactly been a great parent, and that he and his wife had died young. He hadn’t thought about how it affected Tony’s life. And it sounded like this former CEO took a toll on Tony as well. Steve was actually desperately curious to know more.

“Was he always paranoid about reporters?” He asked, trying to lighten the mood. 

Nat snorted. “He never trusted them, if that’s what you mean. In his reckless phase, he actually used to sleep with reporters, but he always kicked them out right away. Wait, you’re not –”

“No! No,” said Steve hurriedly. He was still partly convinced that she could read minds. Nat took a sip of wine to hide her smirk, and he rushed to say, “That’s not why I’m asking. I was just wondering if it was me.”

Nat became more serious again. “No, it’s not you,” she said gently. “Frankly, I’m surprised that you’ve made it this far. You must have Pepper on your side.”

“Yeah, I think that’s the only reason I was allowed in.”

“Yeah, Pepper’s great. But Tony isn’t so bad, either,” Nat said. “Give it time. He gets lost in his own head sometimes. That’s what fuels the paranoia. Let Pepper and Bruce and Rhodey convince him that you’re not dangerous.”

At that, Steve felt slightly guilty. He _was_ lying to Tony. Why should Tony trust him?

“You’re not dangerous,” Natasha repeated, obviously reading his mind again. “Steve, you’re doing this for his own good. If he’s harboring some new superhero, then it’s something SHIELD should know about. Tony will never believe it, but he needs people to look out for him sometimes.”

With that, she turned the movie back on. Steve assumed the conversation was over, but then Natasha added carefully, “You know, there’s a whole file on Tony downstairs in the SHIELD archives. The guards take their lunch break at 12:30.” She glanced over at him, the bright light of the TV dancing across her features. “Just saying.”

Steve knew what she was saying. He had his reservations about reading Tony’s file, though. He managed to keep his curiosity at bay for about three days, and then he had lunch with Tony in the park, and – he had to know. He had to know if that version of Tony was the real one, or if that had all just been an elaborate con to make Steve think that – what? They could be friends? With the way that neither of them quite trusted each other and the fact that he was pretty sure Tony followed him to Central Park, it seemed unlikely. But Steve found that he wanted to get to know Tony Stark. There were more conventional ways he could do it, but he had a whole file of information at his fingertips.

That afternoon, Steve snuck into the basement of SHIELD, where they kept all the paper files in rows and rows of file cabinets. It wasn’t hard to find Tony’s again; they were in alphabetical order. Of course, that also meant that the heavy file labeled _Anthony Stark_ was wedged next to the impossibly larger file on _Howard Stark._ Curiosity got the better of him for a brief moment and Steve shuffled through Howard’s file, most of it containing blueprints and designs that he couldn’t begin to comprehend, and some photos that Steve was in. It made his heart twist. Then he reminded himself that he came down here to learn about Tony.

It was strange to shift his focus back to the present, suddenly. Sometimes Steve had moments like that: He would get lost in thought about the past, thinking of Peggy or Bucky and what they would say if they were here. He had to forcibly snap himself out of it. It happened a lot while he was sketching. If he let himself think about it too much, then he would look up from his notebook to be genuinely surprised that there wasn’t currently a war going on.

Steve shook himself and opened Tony’s file. He would feel like he was prying, but according to Natasha, Tony already knew about their file on him. Besides, it was technically his job to find out as much about Tony as he could. Fury _had_ handed him part of the file before, but it had only contained relevant information. There had been nothing in there about Tony’s mysterious past. And honestly, Steve hadn’t read that far into it beyond _genius IQ… billionaire… philanthropist._

Now, he realized he’d made a mistake in skipping the rest. He found himself glued to the description of Tony’s early life:

_Stark grew up in New York City with his parents, Howard and Maria. Little is known about his early childhood. He received exceptionally high marks in school and won several competitions for his scientific inventions (listed in Appendix A). As his parents were busy socialites, Stark was often under the care of the Stark family’s butler, Edwin Jarvis, throughout his childhood._

_Stark enrolled in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) at the age of 15 and graduated at the top of his class (see Appendix B). There, he befriended roommate James Rhodes (File 5016). Shortly after Stark’s graduation, both of his parents died in a car crash (see Appendix C for police report)._

_Stark displays habits which indicate that he has inherited his father’s alcoholism._

Steve felt like he was reading a strangely detailed Wikipedia page. How did SHIELD even know that Tony and Rhodes were friends? And that he was an alcoholic? Either he had since become sober or he hid it well, because Steve hadn’t noticed. Then again, he hadn’t been around very much. And he had a feeling that Tony was good at hiding things.

Finally, he reached the relevant part of the story. It didn’t make him feel any better.

_In 2008, Stark was kidnapped in Afghanistan by terrorist group The Ten Rings (File 8197). While not much is publicly known about the kidnapping, it is most likely that Stark was taken for the purpose of building a weapon or weapons. While in captivity, he constructed the first Iron Man suit (see Appendix E for details) out of materials likely provided to him for building weaponry. Stark escaped in the Iron Man suit, which was weaponized. There were no other survivors._

_During his kidnapping, Stark experienced an injury which led to shrapnel approaching his heart, which is life-threatening. It is believed by SHIELD medical professionals that the shrapnel was prevented from reaching his heart with an electromagnetic device of some kind (see Appendix A for medical files) though the exact nature of such a device that could be acquired while in captivity remains unknown. It is known, however, that Stark created a miniaturized arc reactor (see Appendix F for details) which currently keeps the shrapnel from reaching his heart. It is not known how Stark knew to utilize such technology while imprisoned, or what initial device kept him alive while he built the arc reactor._

This information meant next to nothing to Steve, except that he was frankly impressed that Tony invented anything while he was being held against his will. He knew Tony was resourceful; this was something else entirely. To have a life-threatening injury and still create, still hope for an escape… that showed a strength that Steve had no idea Tony was hiding. 

Steve still didn’t quite understand how the arc reactor worked or how he had invented it, and it was clear that SHIELD was a little fuzzy on the details as well. Clearly, Tony had worked hard to prevent the full story from becoming public. At least now Steve knew that he had been right not to ask about the arc reactor - he doubted Tony would enjoy discussing the time he spent kidnapped in Afghanistan. 

Morbidly curious, he read on.

 _Following his escape, Stark announced the end of the Stark Industries weapons program. Any remaining funding for the weapons program was redistributed to research and development of robotics and alternative energy sources. While many initially believed that Stark made a rash decision to cancel the weapons program following his kidnapping, it was later revealed that acting CEO of Stark Industries, Obediah Stane (File 5067), had plotted the kidnapping and therefore, it was determined by SHIELD psychologists to be a rational decision by Stark (see Appendix A) to test Stane’s loyalty. Stane died a short time later after making an attempt on Stark’s life._  

_Stark became the CEO of Stark Industries on_

Steve stopped reading and went back to the last part:

_Stane died a short time later after making an attempt on Stark’s life._

This was a distressingly short sentence to cover what seemed to be a monumental event in Tony’s life. He had been kidnapped and narrowly escaped with his life, only to return home to find that his mentor had been responsible? And then they - what, exactly? Fought? There were no more details to be found.

Steve flipped through the rest of the file, including all of the Appendixes it had mentioned, but the medical information was like a foreign language to him and he found himself wondering why SHIELD had an entire Appendix dedicated solely to Tony’s college transcripts. It was with some satisfaction that he noted their blueprints for the Iron Man suit were carefully labeled, _Approximation_ because they couldn’t get ahold of Tony’s actual designs for any of it. Steve felt strangely proud of Tony for successfully keeping secrets from SHIELD. Most people assumed that Captain America would be a rule follower, but he knew better than most that it was sometimes better to keep certain information out of powerful hands. 

He carefully put Tony’s file back along with Howard’s, and he left the room with more questions than answers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll try to get the next chapter up this weekend since I was so late posting this one! :) Thanks again for reading! You can find me @marvelsmostwanted on Tumblr.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey look, a new chapter! I hope it was worth the wait. Still un-beta'd, so... feel free to point out grammar mistakes and typos, but also, I am already aware of the overuse of italics.
> 
> This chapter requires some suspension of disbelief to imagine that Tony, for some reason, doesn't know what Captain America looks like... let's just imagine that Tony resented Captain America for a long time, so he avoided even looking at pictures of him. Sure. (I made this up for fun. Bear with me.)

“That kitten needed to be rescued,” Peter argued. Tony rolled his eyes and handed the kid another band-aid. Peter obediently stuck it to his arm, adding to a collection of colorful bandages covering a series of scrapes and cuts.

Peter was still in his Spider-Man suit, but the sleeve had been partly burned off. Due to Tony’s recent upgrades, it had dissolved instead of melting into Peter’s skin. He was lucky it hadn’t been worse.

“You know that’s not why I’m mad.” Tony finally closed the first aid kit and took a look at Peter. His arm was coated in band-aids, he had gauze covering a burn on his forehead, and his hair was flying in all directions. He looked like a small, spider-y mad scientist. “I understand that the kitten needed to be rescued. What I don’t understand is why you took a flying leap out of a burning building into a tree.”

Peter’s face flushed. He was perched on the lab bench, and he kicked his feet out like a little kid as he spoke. “I ran out of web fluid.”

“Right. And what did I tell you that you should do when that happens?”

“In my defense, I was planning to climb down the tree, but I wasn’t expecting the explosion -”

“Peter.”

“You said to come home,” Peter mumbled. He was already starting to heal, Tony noticed. Underneath the layer of dirt and soot he had accumulated in the fall, the cuts and bruises were quickly fading away. While Tony was grateful for Peter’s spidey healing powers, he also worried that they meant the kid would never learn to avoid moments like this, because there weren’t really any consequences. It wasn’t that Tony wanted the kid to suffer, just - he needed to learn when to stay away from danger.

“But,” Peter pointed out suddenly, “there would be one less adorable kitten in the world if I had gone home. So it’s a good thing I didn’t.”

Tony sighed. Parenting a superhero kid was not easy.

“Yeah, good job,” said Tony dryly. “Now, you just have a kitten you can’t explain to anybody.”

They both glanced over to the corner, where Tony had set up a small bed for the sleeping black and white kitten.

“I decided to name her Storm,” said Peter fondly, ignoring Tony entirely. “You know, like -”

“Johnny Storm, yeah, I get it. The Human Torch. You know, that’s not really funny.”

“I mean, it’s kind of funny,” said Peter.

***

After taking Natasha’s advice and looking into Tony’s files, Steve was more confused about the man than ever. He thought about Tony all the time - at night, in the shower, even on his morning jog with Sam.

“Hello? Anybody home?” Sam asked when Steve didn’t respond to something he had said.

“Huh? Oh, sorry. Spaced out a bit.”

“You think?” Sam was a little breathless from running almost four miles, but still matching Steve stride for stride. “I was just saying, that Spider-Man kid has been out on the streets again. Saw him myself.”

“Kid?” Steve asked. He knew the man was described as small, fast, and agile, but he hadn’t heard anyone refer to Spider-Man as a kid. For some reason, he’d just assumed Spider-Man was an adult.

Sam shook his head. “Listen, man. They’re saying in the papers that it’s some vigilante, but I saw him. I couldn’t catch him, and I was _flying._ I heard a rumor that they even sent War Machine after him, but they never found him.” He paused to catch his breath. “So,” he added, “I think it’s some kid. But he’s working with somebody, or for somebody. We would’ve caught him by now if he was working alone.”

“Really?” Steve was surprised. What Sam was saying made sense, but something still didn’t add up. “But he hasn’t really done anything… wrong, has he? Why’s the government out to get him if he’s just some kid with a God complex, saving people?”

“Well, that’s your job to figure out,” said Sam, grinning. “Isn’t it? If this kid really got powers from some OsCorp tech gone wrong, then who wouldn’t want to get their hands on it?”

Steve was, unfortunately, all too familiar with that line of thought.

***

“Ned,” said Peter urgently at school the next day. “Can you keep a kitten at your house? Just for a while? May would never let me keep her in the apartment.”

Ned shrugged. “I mean, sure? Where did you get a kitten?”

“No time to explain, thanks, bye!” With that, Peter shoved a small bundle into Ned’s arms and dashed away down the hall.

A black and white kitten poked her nose out at Ned. Being friends with Peter was weird.

***

Steve simultaneously felt like he was close to figuring all of this out and putting the pieces together, and miles away from an answer. The mysterious Spider-Man, Tony’s secrecy, the incident at Science and Tech Day - it was all connected somehow, but he couldn’t quite see how. And he was running out of time. He’d told Peter and MJ that he would need to conduct three interviews with each of them, and he was already running out of things to ask about that seemed plausible. It was a stretch to imagine that Tony wouldn’t grow suspicious if Steve tried to stick around any longer.

Fortunately, there was a stroke of luck coming his way.

“Steve!” Pepper caught his arm almost as soon as he walked in the door. “Our annual holiday party is coming up. You’re invited.” Her tone said, _and you’ll be there._ Pepper had a way of issuing commands without saying anything at all. It was a little scary, and very impressive. She pushed a small white envelope into his hands with a smile, which he tentatively returned. On the one hand, this would be a good opportunity to see Tony in action, and to see who showed up. If anything suspicious was going on, this would be a good chance to have a meetup without anybody noticing. On the other hand, Steve wasn’t sure how he felt about walking into a party with all of New York’s 21st century elites. It sort of made his skin crawl.

Pepper must have picked up on his reluctance, because she put a hand on his arm and said, “I do hope you’ll come. Even if you’re not a big partier, everyone who’s anyone in New York will be there, and it’s a good networking opportunity for someone like you.”

For a wild moment, Steve thought she meant “someone like you” in the superhero sense, but then he realized she just meant that it was a great chance for him as a journalist. He forced a smile onto his face and said, “Sounds like fun. Count me in. Are you sure -” He cut himself off, not sure if he should ask, and then asked anyway. “Are you sure Tony won’t mind?”

Pepper’s smile grew even brighter. “It was actually his idea to invite you,” she said. “And I’m _very_ sure he won’t mind seeing you in a suit.” And with that, Pepper left Steve blushing in the lobby of Stark Industries, invitation in hand.

***

The annual Stark Industries holiday party was originally a gathering for SI employees only. It was a chance to to celebrate their successes from the year and blow off some steam before departing for their holiday break. Over the years, the party had become more and more extravagant, and these days it was one of New York City’s most anticipated events of the year. Anyone who was anyone was invited to Stark Tower for one night only. It was attended by celebrities, billionaires, politicians, and various scientists who always looked a little out of place among the glitz and glam, nervously hurrying past the hordes of paparazzi outside on their way in. The scientists came for the networking opportunity and the socialites came to be seen. It was a partier’s party.

Tony had stopped enjoying these things years ago, but the holiday party was the primary source of funding for the Maria Stark Foundation. A generous donation was required to get in unless you were directly employed by Stark Industries, and it seemed that there was no end to the generosity of wealthy people when their reputation was at stake.

Maybe if he was younger, Tony would have been more excited about it. After all, he had once been notorious for drinking and flirting shamelessly throughout the night, ignoring the cameras and boasting the next morning that the trashy pictures of him only proved that he’d had the most fun. People had laughed. Looking back, though, it just seemed kind of sad. Tony’s partying habits had been fueled partly by arrogance, mostly by low self-esteem and a lingering need to prove himself, to show off, that had never quite faded from his childhood.

Tony was thinking about skipping the holiday party altogether until he realized that it was actually a blessing.

He hatched a plan one day when he walked past his own office only to see Steve and Peter in there, chatting like they were old friends. Despite the one pleasant afternoon he had spent with Steve the Reporter, he still didn’t trust him. There was something off about him. Something just this side of suspicious. Tony didn’t like the timing of it.

Later that same day, when the interview was over, Peter came bounding into the lab like an excited puppy.

“Mr. Stark! I got your invitation,” he said eagerly. “I’ll definitely go, except I’m not sure how late I can stay. Does it really not start until 9:00? I mean, not that I go to bed at 9:00, it’s just that my aunt usually wants me home by 11 and -”

Tony held up a hand. “Wait, slow down. Invitation?” He put down what he was working on and turned in his swivel chair to face the kid, who had way too much energy for a Tuesday afternoon. He genuinely had no idea what Peter was referring to, but he quickly changed his tone when Peter’s face fell slightly, like he thought maybe his invitation had been a mistake. “Uh - I mean, of course you should go,” he added, and Peter brightened. Finally, it clicked. “Oh, the holiday party,” he remembered. “Yeah, it will be fun. Sort of. I mean, just don’t talk to any reporters.”

“Not even Steve?” Peter asked with a knowingly raised eyebrow. Tony didn’t like that eyebrow, didn’t like it at all.

“Who says Steve was invited?” Tony asked, even as he started plotting in his head. Inviting Steve would mean getting to see Steve in action - he could see who Steve talked to, who he ignored, what he took sneaky pictures of when he thought no one was looking - and it would be a great opportunity to find out just what he was up to.

Peter shrugged. “No one, but I figured he would be there. I just thought it would be a good chance for you two to - uh, get to know each other more.” He was trying and failing to look innocent as he said this.

Tony refused to accept that he was being set up by a teenager right now. “And that’s why no one asked you,” he told Peter.

(Later that day, Tony called Pepper to make sure Steve was invited. If he waited to do this until Peter was gone so that he didn’t have to see the knowing smirk on the kid’s face, no one had to know.)

***

The Stark Industries holiday party was completely overwhelming.

Peter didn’t know what to look at first: the bright lights and decorations, the celebrities, the ball gowns, the _actual red carpet._ He had been given strict instructions to avoid the actual red carpet, entering through a side door instead. He had to show his ID to a man at the door, who checked his name off on a list. It made him feel like he was the president or something, sneaking around to avoid the paparazzi. Did presidents do that? He had no idea.

The lobby of Stark Industries looked completely different decked out in holiday decorations. The ballroom (who knew they even had a ballroom?) was down the hallway, but the lobby had two bars, a long table with more food than Peter had ever seen in one place, and a crowd of hundreds milling around. Peter pushed his way past New York’s wealthiest to see if he could find someone he knew. After a few minutes of being shoved around, he decided to try the ballroom instead.

It was even more crowded in the ballroom, and louder. Music blared through giant speakers. Tables surrounded a wide space where some people were dancing, but most were just talking. The whole room was a swirl of tuxedos and high heels and glasses of champagne. Christmas lights hung from the ceiling, casting a twinkling glow across the whole scene. Peter felt even more overwhelmed here, and he was just about to give up and call Tony or Pepper or MJ to see if he could find them when he turned around and froze.

MJ looked stunning. She was wearing a deep blue dress that sparkled under the light and her hair - well, her hair was just up in its usual messy bun, like she couldn’t be bothered to do it any other way. She looked perfect.

He found Tony at the same time. The older man entered his peripheral vision, swaying slightly on his feet already. “Hey, careful. Your face might freeze that… way.” Tony trailed off, distracted, and Peter glanced over at him. He barely refrained from laughing out loud at what he saw.

***

Steve always looked handsome, but he was stunning in a suit. Glasses removed, like that made a difference - Tony would have thought he looked amazing either way, but somehow he seemed more _real_ this way and less like the dedicated reporter who had been lingering around Stark Tower for weeks. Tony knew it was foolish to fall for the act; Steve was still a journalist and Tony was sure he’d be reporting anything story-worthy that happened tonight, but for just a second he wondered if things would be different if they’d met somewhere else. Somewhere like this, where no one was thinking about consequences. They could have met as strangers at this stupid party and maybe… maybe things would be different.

That illusion shattered when Peter brushed by Tony to get to MJ, and he remembered why it was so important that he didn’t fall for Steve. He had to protect Peter.

He was a little afraid that it was already too late.

***

For the first time, Tony actually resembled the man that Steve had seen in the photo in his file and spread across tabloid pages. He looked good in a suit, but he always looked good. The difference was the way his eyes seemed a little darker, his smile a little haughtier than usual. There was always drink clenched tightly in his hand while he shamelessly charmed anyone who looked at him twice. By the time Steve finally caught Tony’s attention, he could see the way his smile was strained. He was sure the only reason Tony was holding a drink - aside from the obvious - was to keep his hands from shaking.

Steve recognized it from his past as an army prop, when he would spend long days performing for crowds and feeling like a circus monkey half the time. He knew how it felt to be exhausted and wired at the same time. It was hard to constantly put on a smile. To be surrounded by people who thought you were something you were not.

Tony only confirmed Steve’s suspicion that he was overwrought when he approached and said by way of greeting, “You look too sober. Have a drink. Let loose a little.” It was a transparent tactic to make sure Steve was here just to enjoy the party, not to get the scoop on the inevitable mess that was sure to hit all of New York’s papers tomorrow.

He did his best to look innocent. “I -” He was jostled by someone brushing by him, pushing him further into Tony’s space. Tony caught him by the elbow to steady him. His touch didn’t linger, but Steve took notice of the fact that Tony didn’t seem to mind being closer to him than strictly necessary. He told himself it was the drink in Tony’s hand and not the subtly growing tension between them that had existed for the last few weeks. He cleared his throat. “I haven’t had a chance to get to the bar yet,” he said finally. “It’s a great party,” he added lamely. It was as if his mind had turned off and he suddenly had nothing to say.

“Thanks. I’ll tell Pepper. She planned it. Speak of the devil…” Pepper appeared at Tony’s shoulder, eyes a little wide. She was wearing a golden gown that shimmered in the dim light and she looked a little flushed. “Steve!” She said excitedly, ignoring Tony entirely. “Oh, I’m so glad you made it. I was just telling our friend from the New Yorker that he should meet you.”

As Steve wasn’t actually a reporter, he had very little interest in starting that conversation. He was also mildly suspicious that Pepper was just trying to enlist help in distracting every journalist in the building by forcing them to look somewhere other than at Tony, who was now grabbing Steve by the arm, intentionally this time. “Actually, Pep, I was just going to get Steve a drink. The man deserves to be armed when he faces the wolves.” He dragged Steve away, and Pepper was immediately caught up in a conversation with another guest, eager to please everyone.

“How does she do it?” Steve wondered aloud.

Tony just shook his head. “I have no idea. I think she can read minds and she just hasn’t told me yet.”

Steve huffed a laugh as Tony waved down the bartender and ordered him something he had never heard of, and handed him the glass a second later. Steve’s metabolism wouldn’t allow him to get completely drunk, but when he took a sip of the drink, he thought he might be a little tipsy by the end of the night. He’d had every intention of obediently returning to talk to whoever Pepper wanted him to talk to, try and blend in, and hopefully enjoy himself a little bit, but Tony had other plans.

He leaned against the bar and eyed Steve up and down with dark eyes. It would have been too blatant if it were anyone other than Tony, but it just made Steve feel the need to stand up straighter.

“Who are you, Steve Carter?” Tony asked. His tone was conversational, but the question was like a bucket of ice being poured over Steve’s head. Maybe he was being paranoid, but he got the distinct impression that Tony was onto him.

“I’m Steve Carter, you just said,” he answered cheekily. Even that was a lie, Steve realized. How did people go undercover for months on end? He couldn’t even stand it for a few weeks. “I’m a reporter from Brooklyn.”

But Tony was insistent, as Steve had suspected he would be. “Come on. I know your resume. Tell me more.” He nudged Steve with his shoulder, leaning back against the bar now, looking out at the crowd. “I’m curious.” He took a sip of his drink. He was well on his way to drunk, but Steve didn’t doubt his ability to recount every detail of this conversation if he accidentally let something slip.

For some reason, it felt significant that Tony was asking. Steve found himself telling Tony about Brooklyn, and going to baseball games and growing up poor, and it was mostly the truth with some crucial details left out, like the fact that it had been the 1920’s and not the 1980’s. A lie of omission was not as bad as outright making up facts, though, or so Steve convinced himself as he kept talking. He surprised himself with how much he wanted to share with Tony, even mentioning that he had been in the Army.

“Army, huh?” Tony raised an eyebrow. “I don’t remember Pepper mentioning that being in your file.” Tony was being fairly blatant about his suspicion, and for some reason, with a drink in his hand, Steve was determined to convince him that he was trustworthy. It went beyond the scope of the mission - he didn’t really care if Tony trusted him as a journalist. For some reason, he really wanted Tony to like him as a person.

“It was a long time ago,” Steve said honestly, “and it’s not something I usually bring up the first time I meet someone.”

“My dad worked with the Army,” Tony said, kind of randomly. It was the first time he’d mentioned Howard in front of Steve. It felt significant, even in this crowded room surrounded by party-goers. “Making weapons, and stuff.”

Steve said unthinkingly, “Yeah, I know.” When Tony blinked at him, he added quickly, “I mean, it’s what he was known for, right?”

Tony shrugged. “That, and Captain America.”

Steve’s blood ran cold, and he tried to hide it by taking a sip of his drink. There was no way that Tony could know. No one knew. Even if he had seen old pictures, they were all black and white, and Steve had been younger, and Tony wouldn’t suspect him, of all people, right? And there was no reason for Tony to believe or even suspect that Captain America had been found.

“Did you know that my dad looked for Captain America every year after he disappeared?” Tony asked him. He didn’t wait for an answer before adding, “Which means he looked for Captain America more often than he remembered my birthday, come to think of it.” He hid this heart-wrenching statement under a wry smile, like he found it amusing rather than bothersome. Steve suspected that this was a practiced look.

“I didn’t know that,” said Steve, again honestly. His heart was pounding loudly in his ears; he knew he was flying way too close to the sun. He wanted so badly to ask about Howard, to learn more about Tony, but he forced that urge down and changed the subject instead. “Do you think he’ll ever get the courage to ask her to dance?” He gestured with his glass to indicate Peter and MJ, who were awkwardly hovering at the edge of the dance floor. MJ had her arms crossed, and Peter was nervously taking a sip of his soda. They both looked completely out of place.

“More likely she’ll ask him,” said Tony, laughing.

“Reminds me of -” Steve cut himself off. He was on his third drink, and it must really be strong, because usually he had more self-restraint than this. He looked over to see if Tony would let it slide, but he found the other man’s dark eyes gazing back at him, a little too bright and attentive. “They remind me of this girl I used to date,” he said, and all of a sudden he found himself telling Tony about Peggy, again leaving out some details but keeping the important ones. He knew he was risking everything by spilling his entire personal life to Tony. But from the way that Tony had been inching closer to him all night, and the way the back of his neck felt warm and he no longer knew what to do with his hands, Steve also knew that he was so far away from the mission right now that it didn’t even matter what he was saying anymore. He’d done exactly what they said not to do: he was completely enchanted by Tony Stark.

After laughing at a story about the time Peggy had woken him up by dumping water on his head, Tony asked, “Is she still around? You talk about her like this was all in the past.”

Steve shook his head, trying to stick as close to the truth as possible. “We… left each other on good terms. After the Army, things changed.” Technically, that was very true.

“And now?” Tony pressed. His knee was touching Steve’s. It had been there for a while. “Is there anyone?”

“No,” Steve said, and for some reason, his heart skipped a beat when he saw the way Tony was looking at him. “No, there’s no one.”

***

Tony wasn’t used to this. Well, he was used to being drunk at the holiday party. That wasn’t new. Historically, though, he was the messy kind of drunk that led to hooking up with people whose names he’d forgotten by morning, and he would wake up to Pepper giving him a lecture about how pictures of him looking completely plastered could be used as blackmail material in the wrong hands.

Tonight was different.

Tonight was Steve’s warm gaze and expressive gestures, talking about his past without reservation. Tonight was Tony buying them a reckless number of drinks just to keep him talking. Tonight was staying in one place so that he had a good vantage point to keep an eye on Peter, even as MJ finally just grabbed his hand and led them to the dance floor, only to realize that Steve had been quietly keeping an eye on them, too.

The two of them holed up in the corner of the bar felt cozy despite the people milling around them, the curious gazes that landed on them, and the general chaos of the party. It felt domestic, somehow, and right. Like they could just sit here and talk forever. But they couldn’t, and Tony was never one to let things lie.

They were both drunk - well, Tony thought Steve was drunk, but his voice was remarkably steady - and they had reached a point where Tony had practically heard Steve’s entire life story. People were starting to leave, and Tony was pretty sure that Peter’s aunt had picked him up hours ago, which meant that it was probably after midnight. It would have made sense for them to part ways for the evening at this point, but that was not what drunk Tony had in mind. Instead, he grabbed Steve by the wrist and said, “Come on.”

Steve just went, not asking why, and he didn’t even look surprised until Tony took him into the hallway and pushed him up against the wall.

“Tony -” His blue eyes widened as Tony grabbed his tie and pulled him closer. Tony noticed every detail, from the sharp scent of his cologne to the way his cheeks flushed slightly. He leaned in. His intent really could not be mistaken. Steve took a breath, and Tony was so close to him that he felt his chest move up and down. “Tony, I’m not saying that I don’t want to do this but if we stay here, someone will see.”

Even though Tony hadn’t technically done anything yet, the words left him feeling electrified, anticipation racing through his veins. Steve wanted this, too. He wasn’t imagining it. “Upstairs,” he said then. Feeling reckless, he took Steve by the hand and led him to the elevator.

Luckily, they were by themselves; it seemed that people were lingering at the party. Tony was feeling impulsive. As soon as he pressed the button for his floor, he turned to Steve, planning to pick up right where he left off. Then, the elevator doors closed and much to Tony’s surprise, Steve grabbed _him_ by his shirt, pushed him up against the wall, and kissed him like his life depended on it.

Tony’s surprised gasp let Steve deepen the kiss, and for a few moments Tony forgot how to breathe altogether.

It was there, in the elevator, it occurred to Tony that he didn’t want this to be a one-night stand. Tonight was different. It felt different. He wasn’t going to forget Steve’s name in the morning, because Steve had already stuck around much longer than originally expected. No, he was going to remember his name, and the hands gripping his waist, and the lips on his neck. And the way they both laughed breathlessly when the elevator doors opened on Tony’s floor, realizing that they looked ridiculously disheveled.

They stumbled into Tony’s kitchen, both a little drunk, both literally and from the sudden turn of events that had led to them kissing in an elevator. Tony was afraid that breaking the kiss would bring them back to reality, and this whole night would just turn out to be a mistake, but then Steve looked at him hungrily and before he knew it, Tony pushed up against the counter on his tiptoes - since when had Steve been so tall? - kissing him at a perfect angle and pushing his suit jacket off of his shoulders and tugging at his tie.

Steve huffed a laugh, and they separated for a minute so that Tony could properly take his tie off, but Tony just ended up pulling him closer instead. Steve leaned in again, and -

There was a sudden crash from the doorway, and they jumped apart.

“Hey, Mr. Stark?” They both froze and Tony’s blood ran cold. _Shit._ He knew this night was too good to last.

Peter was standing there. In his Spider-Man suit. With his mask removed.

Tony instinctively moved to block Steve’s view even though it was pointless. Peter’s eyes went wide, realizing his mistake too late. “Shit,” he breathed. There was a cut on his face, and the suit was ripped on the sleeve. “I was just looking for a first aid kit. I - I - uh -”

“Peter,” said Tony in a voice he hardly recognized, a forced calm that came out when he was close to panicking. But he couldn’t panic yet - he had to make sure Peter was safe first. “Pepper’s still here, downstairs, she -”

“But she doesn’t -”

“It’s okay. She won’t tell anyone. She won’t,” Tony said firmly at Peter’s raised eyebrows. “I promise.”

Peter still looked a little shell-shocked, wide-eyed and frightened, but also trusting. Too trusting, Tony thought, which is what got them into this situation in the first place. “Okay.”

Tony stepped closer and lowered his voice so that Steve, who was standing behind them as if he was afraid to say anything, couldn’t hear. “She can call Bruce,” Tony added, “if you need Bruce. Do you need Bruce? Are you okay? What happened?”

“I’m fine,” Peter mumbled stubbornly. “It’s just a few cuts and bruises -”

“Yeah, call Bruce anyway,” said Tony even as Peter rolled his eyes. God, he was such a teenager.

“What about him?” Peter whispered, glancing over Tony’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry, Mr. Stark, I didn’t realize - wait, what is he even doing here?” His tone shifted from apologetic to suspicious. “It’s like, one in the morning.”

Tony refused to be embarrassed in front of a teenager. Staunchly refusing to think of a few moments ago when he and Steve were alone, he said, “He was - we were - discussing - uh, business.”

“Business,” said Peter with a raised eyebrow and an unbearable smirk. “At one in the morning. Right. Of course.”

“Go fix your face,” Tony retorted, and having cheered Peter up a little bit, he sent him on his way and turned back to -

Steve.

Steve had been oddly quiet since Peter walked in; there was no exclamation of surprise or demand for answers. It was too late to make excuses and there was nothing Tony could say to convince Steve that Peter wasn’t Spider-Man. So. There was nothing he could do to stop this evening from being a complete and utter disaster. Earlier, Tony had just wanted to close the distance between them; now, the space felt cold and unreachable.

“Tony?” Steve said, low and uncertain. “Peter - he’s -”

“You should go,” Tony heard himself say. He wasn’t sure why. His heart was pounding just as loudly as before, only now it was anxiety, not anticipation. He didn’t know what else to do - Steve knew. Steve _knew._ Steve was being horribly quiet about the whole thing, like he didn’t know what to say or do, either.

“I - okay.” Steve’s baby blue-eyed gaze was clearer than it had been before, and Tony could practically see his mind racing with this new information. He got the sense that Steve wanted to say something else, but was holding back.

He cleared his throat when Steve didn’t move, and that cued Steve onto the fact that he should actually go. He was halfway to the door when Tony said, kind of hating himself for it, “This stays out of your story.”

Steve’s shoulders stiffened, but all he said was, “Of course.” And then he was gone.

***

It was Peter.

Peter Parker, who was just some nerdy kid from Queens with an affinity for Star Wars, who got starstruck around Tony even though he saw him every day.

Peter Parker, who fit the description of Spider-Man perfectly: small, young, agile; who had been looking Steve in the eye and lying to him for a month.

Steve wasn’t sure what he was feeling. He thought it might be a strange, stomach-churning combination of shock and a sneaking suspicion that he should have known. It was the feeling that he’d missed something, that his own willingness to look past Tony’s odd behavior was what had caused him to overlook this crucial detail, that made him dial Coulson right then and there.

It was 1:30 in the morning. Coulson picked up on the second ring, and he sounded perfectly awake.

Steve was shivering, standing on the sidewalk outside of SI. He could still hear the music booming inside, but the party seemed distant now that he had been so abruptly brought back to reality.

“Phil,” he said, a bit desperately. _What do I do now?_ He wanted to ask. What he said was, “It’s about Spider-Man. There’s something -”

The door had opened behind him, and he felt a rush of warm air as light spilled out onto the street before he was plunged into shadowy darkness again. He turned at the same time as he finished his sentence.

“- you should know.”

He found himself face-to-face with Tony, holding Steve’s forgotten jacket. His expression was blank, unreadable, dangerous. He hung up on Coulson without listening to his reply, and ignored his phone when it started buzzing again. He didn’t dare let his gaze waver from Tony’s in that moment. It was clear that he had heard everything. And it sounded bad.

“Tony -” Steve started. “This - it’s not what you think -”

Tony lunged for him, and all Steve could think was that he’d had it coming.

***

Tony didn’t hesitate. He grabbed the front of Steve’s shirt and pinned him to the wall with all of the strength he could muster. Steve was taller than him, and bulkier, but Tony had the advantage of surprise and force of will. This was not the romantic way he had pictured pinning him up against the wall earlier. This was something – some protective rage – that Tony wasn’t sure he had ever felt before.

How dare he? After promising him, literally minutes before, not to make this a part of his story, Steve was making a call that could threaten Peter’s life. Tony swallowed down the bitter disappointment that Steve the Reporter had turned out to be just like every other damn journalist in this city. And to think that Tony had been falling for this guy an hour earlier.

Steve’s blue eyes were wide, but he didn’t try to push Tony off.

“You bastard. If any - _whisper_ \- about this gets into the media,” Tony hissed, fist shaking slightly, “I will sue you and your organization for everything you are worth and more. And then I will drag your name through the mud so thoroughly that you will never be able to get a job in journalism ever again. And I mean that,” he warned. “I know your paper wouldn’t even publish a story like that without proof. But if any _hint_ of this shows up in an article about Spider-Man two months from now, or anywhere at all, ever - even if it’s on a conspiracy website that has six followers - trust me when I say _I will know, and you will pay._ Do you understand?”

Steve looked properly chastised, but he kept Tony’s gaze determinedly. “I understand,” he said sincerely, and when Tony didn’t look convinced, he added, “Tony. I would _never_ do anything to hurt Peter.” He searched Tony’s gaze. “What you overheard - it’s not what you think.”

This was the part where they were supposed to kiss and make up, Tony knew. He was supposed to just accept that Steve wouldn’t hurt Peter, but Tony was rapidly derailing from angry to scared because he _didn’t_ know that Steve wouldn’t do anything to hurt Peter. How could he, after what he’d just heard?

“Then what is it?” Tony demanded, and Steve didn’t answer right away. “I get it. It’s your job,” he continued, shaking Steve a little. “It’s your job to find the next scoop and to write the next big headline -”

“Tony,” Steve tried to interrupt.

“- and if you’re the reporter who figures out Spider-Man’s secret identity then you’ll be famous. Hell, you’ll get a promotion.”

“Tony, I wouldn’t -”

“Really, because that’s what it fucking sounded like, Steve. It sounded like you were about to sell Peter out thirty seconds after finding out his secret.”

“Tony, would you please just listen?” Steve asked. He didn’t push Tony away, but he sounded exasperated. “I would _never_ do that,” he insisted. “I was just about to tell my boss to _call off_ the search for Spider-Man. He’s had people on the case for months trying to figure it out. I was going to tell him that someone tipped me off, and it’s all just a big prank, some kids who are spreading rumors. I feel just as strongly about protecting Peter as you do. He shouldn’t have journalists chasing him around or have to worry about being caught all the time.” Tony was skeptical, but even he had to admit Steve sounded genuine. “Tony, you don’t have to trust me. But you should know that I would never do that to Peter. It’s my job to report on the internship, okay? Nothing else. I wouldn’t do anything to put Peter in danger. I realize it sounded bad, but I was trying to keep him safe.”

“I really hope you mean that,” said Tony, distancing himself and finally letting Steve go. “Because I meant what I said, too. I will do everything in my power to ruin your life if this gets out.”

“I get it, Tony,” said Steve, his voice earnest as he reached for his jacket. “I get it. I’m not going to tell anyone. You have my word on that.” He looked like he wanted to say something else, but he just shook his head. “Good night, Tony.”

Tony didn’t say anything as he watched Steve walk away.

He wasn’t entirely sure he believed him, but what choice did he have? He was pretty sure that Steve had taken his threats seriously, especially considering the quick turnaround from earlier, but anxiety continued to eat away at him. Pepper knew now, which meant that he would have to face a million questions in the morning. Peter would be upset that Steve knew. And now Tony couldn’t trust Steve, which - he hated to admit it, but that was disappointing, too. As much as Tony had complained about Steve poking around, he had become used to the other man, and even started to like him. Like, _like_ like him. But his protective streak meant that he simply couldn’t trust him anymore.

This was why Tony only had three friends. Things were much safer that way.

***

True to his word, Steve did not leak the story of Spider-Man’s identity to the papers. This was, of course, made easier by the fact that he was not actually a journalist. He had no one to tell. And despite his weak excuse to Tony about making the call to protect Peter, he’d meant what he said: He would never do anything that could potentially put Peter in danger.

For reasons he couldn’t quite explain, he didn’t call Coulson back. And he didn’t tell Fury, either.

Somehow, the entire mission had turned upside down in the space of a few short hours. Steve wasn’t even sure whose side he was on anymore. He was keeping things from Tony _and_ from SHIELD. The line between his undercover personality and his real personality was starting to blur.

The problem was that he couldn’t stop thinking about Tony kissing him, and he couldn’t get the image of Peter looking so vulnerable out of his head. Steve felt a sudden surge of protectiveness over both of them. Who was SHIELD to pry into their lives, anyway? As far as Steve could tell, Peter was a good kid, and Tony wasn’t doing anything suspect. Not for the first time, Steve wondered about Fury’s ulterior motives in sending him here. Steve didn’t believe for a second that Peter was the dangerous vigilante that the papers made him out to be - he was just a teenager playing superhero. And Steve didn’t know the whole story, but he suspected that Fury’s hunch was right, and Peter’s powers developed after the spider incident at MIT. That meant that Peter had only had powers for a few months. He was probably still trying to figure things out.

It was a lot to take in. Peter was Spider-Man. Tony was mad at him. As he returned to his apartment and got ready for bed, Steve felt the full weight of the new secrets he was keeping. It took him a long time to fall asleep.

***

The argument was inevitable, really.

Pepper burst into tears in front of him and berated him for two hours about _how could you_ and _do you even understand the danger you are putting him in._ It was almost ironic because Tony had worried himself sick about the danger he was putting Peter in by not telling May, by continuing to allow him to go out as Spider-Man, by pretending he had some control over the situation, by convincing himself that it would be worse if Peter was sneaking around behind his back instead. The truth was that it was just dangerous and stupid and Peter was a teenager and there was a list a mile long of things that could go wrong. (He knew that last one because Pepper told him all of the things on the list.)

No matter how many times Tony tried to convince Pepper and himself that Peter was _just a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man,_ it just wasn’t enough.

So when Tony showed up to pick Peter up from school the next day, it was hardly surprising that Peter got into his car and started with, “It wasn’t in the paper, so everything’s okay, right?”

“Kid,” said Tony as he put on his sunglasses and pulled out of the parking lot, “I don’t know, okay? I don’t think Steve is going to publish anything. And if he does, I promise you I will make sure he regrets it. The problem is that once something like that is out there, it can’t be taken back. So if he changes his mind -”

“I _know,_ okay?” Peter’s tone was impatient enough that Tony could already see this conversation was going downhill fast. “I knew what the consequences could be when I decided to do this. No one else is going to find out. Steve wouldn’t -”

“We don’t know that,” Tony snapped, a harsh reminder for both of them. He didn’t want to pass his endless cynicism onto Peter, but the kid had to learn. People weren’t always who they said they were - especially around people as trusting as Peter. He should have realized that Peter was impervious to cynicism and that a kid who regularly disguised himself as “Spider-Man” to fight crime wasn’t going to respond well to Tony trying to be realistic.

“ _I_ know,” Peter began angrily, angling himself toward Tony with a finger pointed at him, “that you are in denial about him. He’s a good person, okay? I know you don’t trust him -”

“Because he’s not trustworthy,” Tony cut him off, but was ignored. He realized that Peter was mirroring the body language that _Tony_ usually had when he was scolding him, which was just - great.

“- because he’s a journalist, but he has proven time and time again that he is not going to turn on us, okay?” Peter finally stopped pointing his finger and just looked a little lost, like he too had realized that he was starting to act like Tony. He took on a gentler tone. “I just think you’re being too cautious about this, Mr. Stark. I understand why you’re worried, but Steve is not a bad guy, I can just tell -”

“You can’t, Peter!” Tony shouted, already regretting it even as the words spilled out. “You can _never_ tell with journalists.” He didn’t want to tell Peter about last night when he caught Steve on the phone, because he hadn’t even figured out how to feel about that yet, but he needed Peter to understand this. He pulled to a sudden stop in front of Peter’s apartment building. “I know Steve seems nice, but you can’t trust everybody. Reporters always have an ulterior motive, even when they seem genuine. You just have to be careful, Peter. I just want you to be safe. Honestly, what were you even doing out patrolling that late, after the party? You know, with great power comes -”

_Slam._

Peter had gotten out of the car while Tony was talking and slammed the door shut in the middle of a sentence.

Great. This was going great.

Tony rolled down the window and shouted, “I didn’t even know how I was going to end that sentence anyway!” _I’m sorry,_ he didn’t yell after him desperately as Peter disappeared inside, but he thought it, feeling conflicted. Was this what it was like to have a son? He didn’t need Peter to look up to him or anything like that, although it was nice, but he wanted Peter to take his advice. Tony wasn’t trying to lecture him. He was just trying to make Peter understand the lessons that he’d had to learn the hard way - once, twice, six times over.

His fingers drummed on the steering wheel as his anxiety about Steve started to return. What if Steve was just going to publish the story when his editor promised him a raise; what if Tony’s threats meant nothing to him? What if Tony had just pissed him off and now Steve was going to publish the story on Peter as revenge?

Worst of all, what if Tony was completely wrong and Peter was right, and Steve was just a nice guy trying to do his job?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for continuing to read! It all comes together in the last chapter, I promise. (Spoiler: The next chapter is where the "kidnapping" tag becomes relevant.)
> 
> Kind/constructive comments and kudos appreciated :) I'm @marvelsmostwanted on Tumblr if you want to message/follow me/yell at me.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're back! We finally hear from Aunt May, identities are revealed, calls are dropped due to a snowstorm (that's a thing that happens, right?), MJ is a badass, and I made this whole thing up for fun and it's un-beta'd, so you have to deal with that too. Good luck!

Something was wrong. She could feel it.

Peter had come home upset. He had slammed the door and tossed his bag on the floor before he realized that she was home early, and then he immediately dropped his frown and greeted her with a forced smile instead.

“What’s wrong, sweetheart?” She had asked, pulling him into a hug. Even if it was nothing more than a tough day at school, she wanted him to know that she was always there for him, no matter what. She wished he would open up to her more but she also knew she couldn’t force it.

“Everything’s fine,” Peter had mumbled into her shoulder. “Just a long day.” He did sound tired, but she wasn’t convinced. He pulled back to pick up his bag and head for his room. “I’ve got a lot of homework so I’d better get started.”

About an hour after that, they ordered Thai from Peter’s favorite place a few blocks over and shared a quiet dinner. Peter didn’t open up any more about his day. After dinner, he took a shower before retreating to his room again, claiming he still had schoolwork to finish.

May hadn’t seen or heard from him since.

Call it motherly instinct, or maybe she was just paranoid, but before going to bed around eleven that night, she decided to check on Peter one more time. Something about him seemed off today. Of course, he had bad days just like any other sixteen-year-old. He just usually didn’t internalize his emotions like this. Peter wouldn’t always open up to her, but sometimes she would hear him talking to Ned on Facetime or know he was texting MJ from the way he was glued to his phone. Tonight, it seemed like he was cutting everyone off. It worried her.

May would rather come across as overprotective than not know what was going on with her only nephew, so she pushed aside her hesitation and knocked.

“Peter?” She called. His light was still on, which meant he was up. “Peter, sweetie, I just wanted to make sure you’re okay. You’ve been awfully quiet today.”

No response.

The silence sent a shiver down her spine. “Peter?” She called again, knocking a little louder in case he was wearing headphones.

Nothing.

The quiet apartment suddenly seemed eerie. “Peter?” May said one more time before she tried the door. It was unlocked. It swung open to reveal an empty room.

A chilly breeze greeted her in place of her nephew. The window was flung open, the curtains fluttering slightly, and a light dusting of snow covered the windowsill. Clearly, Peter had been gone for a while. She looked around the room for a clue as to where he might have gone, but she found it the same as always: He hadn’t made his bed. There were clothes strewn across the floor. His laptop was open on his desk, headphones trailing from it. He’d left the light on - probably to make her think he was still here.

Shit.

“Okay,” May said to herself as she crossed the room to close the window, “don’t panic, May, just don’t panic.”

The thing was, this had happened before. About a month ago, she had woken up at one in the morning and gone to use the bathroom. On her way back to bed, she noticed that Peter’s light was still on. Seriously, how much homework could one kid have? When she knocked, though, there was no answer. Assuming he’d fallen asleep, May opened the door intending to turn out the light. She found an empty room with an open window. That time, she had definitely panicked. She called Peter six times until he finally answered, sounding flustered at being caught out, and admitted he had snuck over to Ned’s house. When she asked why he didn’t just tell her where he was going (and leave out the front door like a normal person), Peter claimed he’d been trying not to wake her up. At the time, May had been so tired and relieved that she just accepted his explanation. She made him promise never to do it again, and reminded him that even if it was the middle of the night, he could always wake her up to tell her where he was going and she wouldn’t mind. Well, she would only mind a little. The whole situation was strange because Peter had never been one to sneak out, and it had bothered her for a while.

It bothered her a lot more now. It was obvious that Peter had lied. Why would he sneak out if he was just going to Ned’s? Looking back, it was a weak excuse that she had been willing to look past because she was just relieved that Peter was okay. He didn’t show any signs of having been out partying or anything like that, so she didn’t feel the need to follow up on it. Now, she wished she had been more strict in insisting on finding out just what he had been doing that night. Whatever it was, her instincts were screaming that it wasn’t good. Anything that had her nephew - her genius, nerdy, Star Wars-loving nephew - sneaking out in the middle of the night through his window couldn’t possibly be good.

Last time, he’d been back by morning. “He’ll be back in the morning and you can yell at him then,” she told herself. “You can’t call the police until the morning anyway because he’s only been missing for a few hours at most. He was back by the morning. He’ll be back in the morning.”

She tried to convince herself that Peter wasn’t in danger. He was probably with his friends. Or something. She couldn’t even think of a reason for him to have snuck out on his own, in the dark, in New York City, at nearly midnight.

May didn’t get any sleep at all that night.

***

Tony stayed up all night in his workshop, barely paying attention as he automatically went through the motions of doing regular maintenance and adding updates to the robots. His mind kept drifting to Peter and how he’d left the kid angry, and he shouldn’t have done that. Tony was not prepared to parent a teenager, but he was trying, damn it. When Peter’s internship at Stark Industries started, neither of them were expecting that it would end with both of them struggling to hide his superpowers from the rest of the world.

Tony couldn’t help it - he felt responsible for keeping Peter safe. After all, Peter wouldn’t even _have_ powers if Tony hadn’t taken him and MJ to that stupid Science and Tech Day. Not to mention that Tony just _liked_ the kid. He’d grown fond of the way that Peter asked a million questions and interrupted his own sentences and rambled about Ned and MJ like they hung the moon. He knew Peter looked up to him, and he knew that if he was really going to be Peter’s part-time parent, then it was a long-term commitment and he needed to start by making amends for freaking out about Steve.

That was the other thing keeping Tony up at night: Steve and whatever the fuck was going on there. Tony had exploded at him last night - _how was that just last night?_ \- and hadn’t heard from him since. It made him feel antsy, and before he knew it he was formulating apologies for both Peter and Steve in his head that felt less than adequate for the way he had acted.

Then again, there was still a stubborn part of him that wasn’t entirely sure he should trust Steve. Things had been off with him from the start. Sure, he was handsome, nice, interesting - and a good kisser, Tony could admit - but he still didn’t really know much about him. Even after hearing about Steve’s past, something still didn’t sit quite right. Tony tried to tell himself that he could fix things with Steve, and he wanted to, but it was hard to ignore the persistent feeling that something about Steve was suspicious - maybe it was the timing of his arrival, the questions he asked, or the glasses that he clearly didn’t need. There was something that Tony was missing, some essential clue he had overlooked….

There were no windows in the workshop, and Tony hadn’t been paying any attention to the clock. He didn’t notice that morning had arrived until JARVIS interrupted his thoughts.

“Good morning, sir. May Parker is here and requesting a meeting with you as soon as possible. You have nothing scheduled for today. Should I tell her -”

“Tell her I’m on my way,” said Tony, dropping the wrench in his hand and brushing his hands on his jeans. He was sure he didn’t look his best, but he was also pretty sure it wouldn’t matter: May was definitely here to chew him out for upsetting Peter. He was ready to face her after berating himself all night. He deserved it.

Tony expected her to be angry. He was not expecting to find Peter’s aunt standing in the lobby pacing back and forth, or for her to look so relieved when she saw him.

“Oh, there you are,” she said with a slightly hysterical edge to her voice. She looked - well, she always looked beautiful, but she had dark circles under her eyes and her hair was frizzy, and she was wearing her glasses, which she normally didn’t do out in public. “Is Peter here?” She looked around like he might just appear out of a corner somewhere. “Your -” she gestured to the ceiling - “voice thing said he wasn’t, but -”

“Peter’s not here,” Tony said, and his stomach dropped as her eyes widened. Suddenly, his issues with Steve didn’t seem so important anymore. “When was the last time you saw him? I dropped him off at your place yesterday afternoon.”

May shook her head in confusion. “Wait, back up. He was with you?” Her expression changed subtly from fearful to concerned. “He seemed upset when he came home,” she said, her tone not exactly accusatory, but not blameless either.

“We had a misunderstanding,” Tony confessed quickly, “and I am sorry about that. I was going to apologize to him today.”

Of course, it was all bullshit, trying to disguise this as a _misunderstanding_ when he knew that there was only one way this conversation could end. They were running out of options fast. If Peter was missing - Tony’s mind raced with the possibilities. Did he run away? Did he get injured while he was out as Spider-Man? Or worse?

“Okay,” said May slowly, “there is definitely more to that story, but we’ll get to that in a minute because my nephew is missing.” She took a breath to steady herself before she launched into her story. She told it systematically, like she had practiced it, or possibly been thinking about it all night. “He came home and he was upset, but he told me everything was fine like he always does. He went to do his homework and then we had dinner. He took a shower. He went to his room. His light was on. When I went to go to bed, his light was still on. I decided to check on him because he’d been acting weird and quiet.”

Abruptly, Tony remembered that before Peter told him about Spider-Man, he noticed something was off because Peter was being unusually quiet.

May continued, “I knocked a few times and then I opened his door. He was just gone. The window was open.” Tony closed his eyes. He wanted to comfort her, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Not when he was about to make everything ten times worse by telling the truth. Her emotion was starting to leak into her voice. “He’s only snuck out once before that I know of, he - he told me he was at Ned’s, but now I just don’t know what to think -”

Tony opened his eyes to find her looking back at him helplessly, tears in her eyes. She crossed her arms over her chest and said, “I told myself he would be home by morning and he wasn’t. Now I get a call from the school telling me he’s not there.” She sniffed loudly, looking away. “I don’t know. Maybe I’m overreacting. Maybe he’s with Ned. I should give Ned’s mom a call -”

“May,” said Tony, pushing aside his own panic because it wasn’t going to help right now. He swallowed down his fear and anxiety, gently took her by the shoulders, and looked her in the eye. “Peter isn’t with Ned. You might want to sit down for this.”

After staying up all night promising himself he would be a better co-parent to Peter, Tony broke his one promise to the kid.

He told her everything.

***

It was snowing out and Peter was missing and May was crying in Tony’s kitchen. Pepper, who had showed up right on cue after May started yelling at Tony for letting Peter become a vigilante, handed May a steaming cup of tea.

“I know it’s a lot to take in,” Pepper was saying calmly. Tony was impressed by her ability to handle this situation since Pepper herself had only just found out about Spider-Man. He was suddenly grateful for her ability to handle literally any situation because time was ticking and they needed to channel their emotions into finding Peter. “May, I know it’s a lot to take in. But let’s try and focus, shall we? When did you last see Peter? Can we start with that?”

May started to recount the timeline of events to Pepper, who wrote it down so they could share their notes with the police when they called.

Tony felt strung out and exhausted, physically and emotionally, but also restless. He wanted to get in the suit and start searching for Peter, but Pepper had stopped him with a reminder that if he was seen, people would want to know why, and it would only draw more attention to the situation. She suggested that instead, they approach it logically and call the police, try to narrow down where Peter could be, and then go from there. Tony wasn’t pleased with this course of action, but he knew they weren’t going to get anywhere while May was still upset, so he decided it was worth the time to calm her down and make sure they had all their facts straight.

He stood from the table while May was still talking, pacing restlessly back and forth. Their plan was to have May call the police and report her nephew missing - no reason not to have all hands on deck helping them search - and she was going to mostly tell the truth, leaving out that Peter had anything at all to do with Tony Stark or Stark Industries. Separately, Pepper would make sure that everything was running smoothly at the Tower while Tony went out to search the places the police wouldn’t think to look. The third part of their plan, which was only to be enacted after Peter had been missing for 24 hours - if it came to that, and Tony prayed that it wouldn’t - was to start contacting other heroes and vigilantes in the area and make them aware that Spider-Man was missing. This was a last resort, since they didn’t want to risk revealing Peter’s identity by accident. The fewer people who knew, the better.

Then Tony’s phone rang.

They all froze, looking at the vibrating Stark Phone like it was about to explode. Tony said, “Jarv -”

“Unknown number calling, sir,” the AI’s voice rang out. It had barely finished before Tony just lunged for the phone and pressed to his ear. “Hello?” He demanded, heart pounding as he put the call on speaker. He was hoping to hear Peter’s voice, but -

“Tony Stark,” said a low, gravelly voice on the other end of the line. He didn’t recognize it, but it made his stomach drop to his toes. “We have Spider-Man,” said then the voice, and then nothing for a heart-stopping moment of silence, and then, through static: “...not look for him. Just make the announcement, send the money, and then arrangements will be made.” The line went dead.

Tony was already leaning on the table for support, the hand clutching his phone shaking slightly as he dropped it to the table with a loud clatter. His horrified expression was mirrored by both Pepper and May. And on top of that, he was just as confused as he had been before the call.

“JARVIS, what happened?” He demanded. “I want playback of the whole call.”

“It appears that the snowstorm interfered with the signal, sir. Playback starting now.” The low voice started talking again. _“Tony Stark. We have Spider-Man. If you want to get him back, then you will meet two demands: One, you will publicly announce that you, Iron Man, created Spider-Man and gave him his powers. Two, you will deposit ten million dollars in the account provided to you following this call. Then, and only then, we will release Spider-Man. Do not look for him. Just make the announcement, send the money, and the arrangements will be made.”_

Even though the call clearly said not to search for Peter, Tony’s first reaction was, “Can you trace the call?”

“The call was untraceable,” JARVIS confirmed his suspicion.

Tony could not believe this was happening. “That’s impossible. Unless -”

Unless they had the tech.

“Pepper, Pep,” he was stammering, mind racing faster than his mouth could form words. “Pep, the - the - Oscorp. Phone. Biting people. Remember?”

May was looking at him like he was insane, but Pepper actually jumped to her feet. “Yes, Oscorp released a new phone that was supposed to be for professionals, like a Blackberry but better. Only, there was some tech in it that made the charger hole open up and bite people.”

“Yes,” said Tony, slamming his hands down on the table and alarming everybody, “it was the tech that was supposed to make every call from their phones _untraceable.”_

***

The bell rang signaling the start of class at 7:30 sharp. MJ leaned forward in her chair to tap Ned on the shoulder. “Where’s Peter?” She hissed, looking around. Parker was never late. In fact, he was almost always on time. Usually by this time of the morning, MJ was trying not to fall asleep in class while Peter was working on… something. He’d been so distracted lately.

Ned shrugged. “Don’t know,” he whispered back. “Maybe he’s sick? He gave me a kitten the other day. He was being really weird.”

Ignoring the part about the cat, MJ frowned. “Peter’s never sick,” she said as the thought occurred to her. That was another strange thing about him: He was annoyingly healthy. Somehow, Peter found the time to work out in between studying for hours on end, his Stark internship, and playing Legos with Ned every other day.

But MJ had a theory about that.

***

Tony was about to announce his plan to storm Oscorp, find Peter, and burn the building slowly to the ground when Bruce walked into the office, clearly not expecting to find Pepper looking alarmed, Tony fuming, and Peter’s teary aunt.

“Uh -” He started.

There was no time to explain. Tony snapped, “Peter’s been -”

“Kidnapped,” Bruce nodded.

“- kidnapped, and it was Oscorp. Wait, how did you know that?” Tony looked around. “Have you been here the whole time and I just didn’t notice?”

Bruce shook his head, expression tense as he said flatly, “It’s on the news.”

_“What?”_

Five minutes later, they were watching the news with various expressions of dismay.

 _“We have received a report that the vigiliante who goes by Spider-Man has been kidnapped. The kidnappers are demanding a ransom of ten million dollars from genius billionaire Tony Stark, who has yet to comment on the situation. We do not know the identity of the kidnappers at this time, nor do we know Spider-Man’s identity - but today might be the day we find out. The kidnappers have also made it clear that harm will come to Spider-Man if anyone comes looking for him, which means the police are approaching this situation with extreme caution and treating it as a hostage situation. Of course, the situation is made more difficult since the police don’t know exactly who they’re looking for...”_ JARVIS muted the TV as the news anchor started asking for anyone who had information about the identity of Spider-Man to come forward to the police.

“How are we going to get Peter back without telling the world who he is?” Bruce asked, voicing everyone else’s thoughts.

“We have to find him first,” May reminded them, sniffing. “This is awful.” Pepper sat next to her and put a comforting arm around her shoulders.

Tony’s mind was racing. “They didn’t mention the confession,” he realized. “The news. The threat they received was different than the one we did.” Of course. They were framing him. They were framing Tony for their mistake. The investigation into Oscorp was ongoing, but it wasn’t over. If Tony confessed to creating Spider-Man, then their company would avoid the blame. “Oscorp wants me to confess to creating Spider-Man so that they get away with setting radioactive spiders on a bunch of teenagers back at Science and Tech Day.”

He was seething. “It was only a matter of time before someone connected the dots between the MIT incident and Spider-Man, so they’re getting me to frame myself so it will throw the feds off their trail.” Tony could feel time ticking away, second by second. It had been over two hours since May arrived to tell him the news and he was not pleased that they hadn’t made any progress at all. He was itching to do something, anything, but he couldn't do anything that would put Peter at risk. They would be willing to kill him to eliminate the evidence.

His phone started vibrating in his pocket. Tony pulled it out, dread pooling in his stomach, except this time, it was a number he recognized. He froze for a second. Then he answered. “Steve?” He turned away from Pepper and the others.

The call quality sucked because of the snow, so Steve’s voice was clouded by static as he said, “Tony, I just saw on the news -”

“I’m on it,” said Tony abruptly. “I appreciate your concern but there’s nothing you can do and -”

“Tony,” Steve interrupted.

“- and Steve, I am going to have the police interrogating me and every reporter in the city on my doorstep in about two minutes. I don’t need another one to tell me I fucked up.”

“Tony -” Steve was insistent, but his voice was cutting in and out. He sounded different, Tony thought; something was wrong. What _else_ could be wrong? It made him stop and listen. Steve sighed on the other end of the line, resulting in a burst of static. He paused for so long that Tony almost thought the call had dropped, but then -

“Now is probably a bad time to tell you this, but I’m not really a journalist.”

***

Steve’s heart was pounding in his chest. “I’m Captain America,” he finished, feeling a little more confident now that he’d said it aloud. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, but I had my orders.” He paused, bracing for Tony’s reaction, but there was no reply. “Tony?”

He looked at his phone. _Call dropped,_ the screen read in blinking letters.

***

Tony actually gasped when Steve said it, a sharp little inhale that wouldn’t go unnoticed by the others. _I’m not really a journalist._ His shoulders stiffened as the familiar, lead-heavy weight of betrayal sank into his stomach. He was prepared to hear anything - _I’m a spy, I’m just a crazy fan,_ or even _it was me, I kidnapped Peter_ (Tony didn’t want to think that Steve was capable of such a thing, but given the other betrayals he had experienced, he had low expectations) - but there was nothing to follow up that ominous statement, just fuzzy silence. It took Tony about thirty full seconds to realize the call had been dropped.

“Tony? What was that all about?” Pepper came up behind him, voice gentle even though he knew she, too, was shaken by this whole thing.

He answered honestly, “I have no idea.” There wasn’t time to figure it out just now, either. He stepped away from her. “JARVIS, I want to know every place Norman Osborne has been in the last year, every building and every warehouse he’s used, every place he has set foot in, even for a minute. Sort in order of distance from Peter’s apartment and we’ll go from there.”

***

Steve called Tony back four times but there was no reply. After the fourth time he reached Tony’s voicemail, he threw his phone so hard at the wall that it shattered.

Not his best plan.

He wanted to know how much Tony had heard. He wanted to know what Tony was thinking. Most of all, though, he wanted to help. Because before he could fix things with Tony, they had to find Peter.

Steve was about to see if he could contact Tony through the landline when there was a sharp knock on the door of his apartment. He frowned. No one knew he lived here except for Fury, Nat, and a scattered few of the others at SHIELD. Most of them would have called, and it was unlikely that he had missed a call in the short time since he had smashed his phone.

He suddenly became aware that he had taken out the suit as soon as he’d seen the news, and it had been dropped on his couch during the call with Tony. He shoved the suit under a blanket and cautiously approached the door, ready for anything. Steve took a breath, and opened it quickly to reveal -

“MJ?” He was happy that it was a familiar face, but he also had no idea what she was doing here. Or how she knew where he lived.

MJ was looking at him suspiciously, like she wasn’t sure whether or not she was in the right place, when she sighed, the action shifting her curly hair out of her face. “Peter’s missing,” she said abruptly, “and so is Spider-Man.”

She wasn’t supposed to know about that, either.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in school?” Steve asked warily.

“I don’t think that’s a coincidence, and neither do you,” MJ continued, ignoring him. She stepped into his apartment like she owned the place, settling on the arm of the couch and crossing her arms across her chest with a determined look on her face. “The kidnappers said on TV that they didn’t want Iron Man or the police to come looking for him.” Steve closed the door, a sort of anticipatory dread coming over him. How long had she known?

MJ just raised an eyebrow expectantly. “They didn’t say anything about Captain America, though.”

***

_“Hey, Mr. Stark, this is Ned. Both of my friends are missing who work for you, and I’m not saying you kidnapped them, but I just saw on TV that you are involved in another kidnapping, so I’m just calling to say… uh… if you do have them… or know where they are, then. Uh. Give me a call back? Thanks. And uh, it’s Ned. Peter’s friend. Did I say that already? Okay, thanks, bye.”_

***

JARVIS finished traced Norman Osborne’s movements through surveillance cameras and his cell phone, and it led them to a series of storage units by the Hudson. Osborne had visited the area twice in the past week, but there was no record of him taking anything there or renting a unit. It certainly looked like he was scoping out the area.

Tony was about to jump out of his skin, but there were still holdups.

“What if he isn’t there? Then what?” May demanded.

“You can’t fly there. Someone will see,” said Pepper a little more gently.

“They could hurt Peter if they find out you’re searching for him instead of making the announcement and paying the ransom,” Bruce pointed out.

Tony felt the urge to scream. “Does anyone else have a better plan?” He asked impatiently, pacing back and forth in front of them. “Because unless we send in the Hulk, which is definitely not more subtle than Iron Man, I don’t see how -”

“Steve can go.”

All four of them turned at the sound of a familiar voice. MJ was walking toward them - how did she get in; there were security protocols - and she was accompanied by, of all people, Steve. Steve the Reporter.

Except he wasn’t Steve the Reporter. He was Captain fucking America.

The mild-mannered reporter had been replaced by pure, all-American confidence in a star-spangled suit. Tony would actually have laughed out loud, been completely fucking hysterical because Steve was dressed like Captain America, which was ludicrous, except - except -

“Is that -” Bruce seemed hesitant to ask, looking between Tony and Steve - _Captain America_ \- as he put it all together. “Is that vibranium? Is that the real thing?” He reached out to touch the shield, but Steve walked right past him and up to Tony instead.

“It’s the real thing,” Steve confirmed, and Jesus, even his voice was deeper. The glasses were gone, his expression serious, and it all seemed so obvious in hindsight that Tony took a precious few seconds out of worrying about Peter to feel like a complete and utter idiot, and then he was back to worrying about Peter.

“You’re -” Pepper had a hand over her mouth.

May looked ready to faint.

Tony had a lot of questions. A lot. Like, when did they find him? How was he not a popsicle? Was the government aware that technically, Captain America was a trademark registered to Stark Industries and therefore, someone should have told Tony that he was now the proud owner of one brand new Steve, unfrozen and handsome as ever? Why was he pretending to be a reporter? But Tony’s mind was whirring, theories being formed and dismissed and re-formed in a matter of seconds, and what came out of his mouth wasn’t _how are you alive_ or _how long has SHIELD been hiding you from me_ , but, “Army, huh?”

Steve’s eyes widened for a second, surprised, and then he huffed a laugh, ducking his head. And oh, there he was. So Steve the Reporter maybe wasn’t so different from Steve the… Captain America. “I - I didn’t want to lie to you, Tony,” he said, getting his expression back under control as he leveled a look at Tony with those earnest, blue eyes.

“Well, you only left out about 70 years,” said Tony, sounding way more casual than he felt. He felt like his heart was going to jump right out of his chest, and he didn’t even have a functioning heart, so the feeling was disconcerting.

“I know I have a lot to explain,” said Steve. He could have been there explaining for the _next_ 70 years, but someone needed to get this situation back under control.

“You’re right,” said MJ, sliding smoothly in between Tony and Steve to interrupt their staring contest. She looked between them. “You both have a lot of explaining to do. Later. After we find Peter. Here’s the plan,” she began, and all of the adults glanced at each other before collectively deciding to listen. “Steve is going to go get Peter. While he’s doing that, Tony is going to distract Osborn by accusing him publicly of creating Spider-Man. Call him out. Literally. Tell the world that he’s a liar, and that if he wants to prove that it wasn’t him who created and kidnapped Spider-Man, then he needs to publicly come out and say it. Use his own tactics against him. Meanwhile, Steve will rescue Peter, and then we can prove that Osborn kidnapped Spider-Man.”

She was met with silence as the adults processed this.

“And - here’s the best part - Peter won’t have to reveal his identity because the media is going to be all over the fact that Captain America is back.”

“You’re willing to do that?” Tony asked, arching an eyebrow at Steve. Tony wasn’t exactly up to date on what was going on here, but he could guess that SHIELD would not be pleased with Captain America being revealed to the world ahead of schedule.

Steve nodded. “We need to get Peter back.” There was no hint of hesitation in his voice. He was committed to MJ’s plan.

It was a good plan.

“That’s a good plan,” said Tony.

“Well?” MJ said expectantly, looking between them. “What are we waiting for?”

***

Peter had been annoyed at Tony when he came home, annoyed enough that he didn’t bother to tell Tony that he was going out tonight. As he swung through the streets of New York, he felt a similar rush as he felt during his first days of being Spider-Man. It was a little reckless, definitely dangerous, and so much fun. It felt like freedom. He understood that Tony was just trying to keep him safe, but it was stifling to have someone constantly looking after you and checking up on your every bump and bruise. Peter was _fine._ He was responsible. He was smart.

He stopped a robbery at a corner store. He saved someone crossing the street from an oncoming taxi. He scared off some guys having a fight in a back alley, and then he stopped to have a churro.

This turned out to be a mistake. It was getting late, and as Peter walked along the sidewalk, which was mostly abandoned, he became aware that he was being followed. His spidey senses alerted him before he heard them coming. Multiple people. Heavy footsteps. A few guys, then. They were probably the ones whose fight he had interrupted earlier. Or maybe he was being paranoid, and it was just someone walking home. Either way, he ought to get off the streets anyway. If he stayed out much later, May would get suspicious.

Peter abruptly turned down an alleyway to get a running start, intending to climb up the brick wall and away, when he realized he was out of web fluid again.

“What? No, no, no, come on!”

He tried twice more, but no luck. He turned to see three shadowy figures at the head of the alley. He’d trapped himself in here. Cursing under his breath, heart pounding in his ears, Peter did the only thing his panicking mind could think of and started climbing the wall. “Shit, shit -”

He wasn’t quick enough.

A strong hand grabbed his ankle. Peter cursed and tried to kick it away, but then he lost his footing. His attackers took advantage of his imbalance and yanked him down to the ground. They weren’t careful about it. It was a messy, short struggle as they all fell to the street together.

Peter hit his head hard, and everything went dark for a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...Sorry for the cliffhanger! I meant for this to be the last chapter, but I just haven't had the time to finish the very last part. This was already done, so I wanted to share it with you since I haven't updated in a while. The next chapter will definitely be the last, and maybe I'll take some time to go through and fix the typos that I'm sure are in here. As always, thanks for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've reached the end! This is a short, but hopefully satisfying chapter. After finally seeing Infinity War, I added an extra fluffy moment for Steve to comfort Tony, because Tony doesn’t get enough love. Plus - spoiler alert - it has a happy ending. Enjoy.

Things were finally moving. After several paralyzing hours, a plan was in motion. Steve was in uniform, prepared to leave. Pepper was already setting things in motion for Tony to make a big speech on TV. Even May looked somewhat relieved now that she knew Captain America was going to save her nephew.

So why did Tony suddenly feel scared?

He thought maybe it was the sleep deprivation catching up to him. This had all felt like some surreal nightmare until people started to actually do something about it. Now, it felt real. Frighteningly real. What if Tony said the wrong thing and Peter had to suffer the consequences? What if they were wrong about the location? What if Steve got hurt and couldn’t get to Peter in time? What if -

Usually, it was Pepper who noticed when Tony was about to have a panic attack, but she was in another room on the phone. May was deep in discussion with MJ, and Tony’s throat was closing.

A hand landed on his shoulder.

“Breathe with me.” Steve met his gaze and spoke with authority, as if he had handled this situation before. Maybe he had. Or maybe he just knew Tony so well that it was actually frightening. “Peter’s going to be okay,” he said as Tony’s breath started to even out. Tony didn’t take his eyes off of Steve’s steady gaze, the calmest shade of blue. “I’m going to find him, and we’re going to fix this. In a few hours, Peter will be back. Good as new.”

Slowly, Tony sat down as the wave of anxiety passed, landing on the couch. Steve knelt in front of him, never looking away or taking his hand off of his shoulder, a solid point of contact. Tony belatedly realized that Steve was also holding his wrist, checking to see if his pulse was back to normal. “Listen, Tony,” said Steve carefully once Tony seemed to have recovered. His gaze dropped to the arc reactor, then flickered back up. “I know you’ve been through a lot lately.”

Tony didn’t expect such a simple statement to cause a lump to form in his throat. It was just so rare for someone to acknowledge that Tony had been through anything. He was rich, arrogant, obnoxious, smart… most people couldn’t comprehend that there was anything he could possibly lack, or want. All he wanted was normalcy. Sure, he liked attention, but not like this. Right now, with Peter missing and things falling apart around him, Tony wished more than anything that he was just a normal person. Just a normal CEO, even, with a normal intern kid. That was why he relished those moments with Peter in the lab so much: for a while there, it almost felt normal.

“And I know it’s all too much for one person to handle,” Steve continued, voicing Tony’s thoughts. “But you’re not alone. I’m right here. And so is Pepper, and May, and MJ, and we’re not going anywhere.” He slid his hand from Tony’s wrist to interlace their fingers. “When Peter’s back, he’ll be here for you, too. So if anything like this ever happens again - and I hope that it won’t, but if it does - you’ll never have to deal with it alone. Okay?”

Tony half-smiled, looking down at their interlocked fingers. “Pete was mad at me before he left,” he admitted. “I don’t know if he’ll be so happy with me when he gets back.”

Steve just shook his head. “Have you ever seen the way that kid looks at you?”

Before Tony could fully process that, Steve placed a gentle kiss on his hand and straightened. Pepper was back. It was time.

They were going to rescue Peter.

***

As Peter woke - minutes or hours or days later, he wasn’t sure - he slowly realized that his spidey sense was going crazy, his whole body tense, on edge. His hands were tied behind his back. As he slowly opened his eyes, he had the dizzying realization that he was laying on the ground but tied to a chair - clearly, at some point, he had moved around too much and knocked himself over, or maybe his captors left him like that just to further inconvenience him.

Peter took a moment to get his bearings. He was still in the suit, but his face was uncovered. His heart leapt into his throat at the realization, but he swallowed down his panic. There was nothing he could do about it now. Stupidity had brought him here - he’d been so stupid. Impulsive. He’d been angry with Tony, and frustrated at the world, and he’d gone out alone in the middle of the night in New York City without enough web fluid, and ended up here.

Wherever “here” was.

The floor was cement, and Peter could already feel the cold seeping into his body. The rest of the room - at least, what he could see of it while laying on his side - was equally nondescript. But there was a shaft of light cast onto the door in front of him, which meant there was a window, probably up high, behind him. If he could reach it -

Peter had been about to try moving, but instead he froze. The sound of muffled shouting reached his ears. It seemed to be coming from below him. He put his head to the ground and tried to focus, using his powers to concentrate on their individual voices.

A loud, angry voice: _What the hell were you thinking, threatening Tony Stark? He knows everyone in the city. He’ll have them all here in a minute._

Peter gasped. They had threatened Tony? This had to be OsCorp. A chill ran through him. Peter hadn’t been afraid of OsCorp, really, until now. He had always assumed that the spiders were a freak accident that could have happened to anyone, but he should have listened to Tony: OsCorp was a dark organization with secrets to keep, and they would do anything to keep them.

 _I’ll take care of it,_ a second voice said urgently. Male. It sounded vaguely familiar. _Before they find us. We’re doing what had to be done. They can’t find out it was us._

The sound of approaching footsteps caused Peter’s heartbeat to go into overdrive. He did the only thing he could think to do and played dead. He closed his eyes and let his body hang limp, and just in time. The door opened with a bang.

***

 _Earlier today, Spider-Man’s anonymous kidnapper asked for a ransom from billionaire Tony Stark. Now, Stark is responding with some startling accusations._ The scene changed from the newscaster to the man himself, standing behind a podium as flashbulbs went off in his face.

“I will not be paying the ransom,” said Tony, loud and clear. “I will not be threatened by people who would do something as low as kidnapping a child. You heard me: A child. Spider-Man is sixteen years old. He gained his powers after an accident involving radioactive spiders at MIT earlier this year. The accident could have killed him, but it gave him powers instead. This kidnapping and the ransom demand are an attempt to cover up that story. Oscorp created Spider-Man that day. And Oscorp has him now. They’re trying to use this as an opportunity to pin the blame on me.”

The room was abuzz with questions, reporters shouting over each other until finally, one could be heard clearly over the others: “Mr. Stark, can you prove that Oscorp created Spider-Man?”

Tony looked thoughtful, a carefully constructed expression. “Why don’t you ask Norman Osborne and see what he says?”

And just like that, the entire city joined their search for Spider-Man and Osborne.

***

Three sets of footsteps entered the room. Peter tried to do a convincing impression of an unconscious person, but he felt like his heart was going to beat right out of his chest. He worried that his hands might be shaking. Luckily, the men didn’t seem to notice, too busy snapping at one another.

“I’ll take care of the media,” said the same urgent voice from downstairs, the familiar one. Peter thought it might be Norman Osborn, someone he had only ever seen in TV commercials. “You keep an eye on the kid.”

“Should we move him?” The second voice asked hesitantly. “Just in case they find -”

“They won’t find us,” said Osborn confidently, in a way that sent chills down Peter’s spine. “It’s too risky to move him, anyway. They’re more likely to see you if you move him. Just stay put and do as I say. I’ll be back in an hour.” With that, the door slammed shut, leaving Peter alone with his two bodyguards.

The third man finally chimed in. He had a deep, intimidating voice that put Peter’s spidey sense on high alert. “Do you really think Stark will fall for it?”

“I don’t know,” the other man said almost boredly. “Hey, how hard did you hit this kid, anyway? He’s been out for hours.”

Peter didn’t like this change of subject, feeling their scrutiny like a spotlight. He barely avoided a full-body flinch as the toe of a boot came in contact with his stomach as one of them lightly kicked him.

He figured it was the best chance he was going to get.

Peter flung himself to his feet and spun around, knocking one of the two men down with the chair as they shouted and flailed. He took advantage of their surprise and made for the door, only to be tripped up by the larger of the two, the one with the intimidating voice - he’d been right; the man was at least three times Peter’s size. His biceps were the same size as Peter’s head. He loomed over Peter, and raised his fist.

Peter flinched in anticipation of a blow, closing his eyes and turning away. But he felt nothing.

He heard one of the thugs say, “What the -” followed by a loud metallic clang echoing around the room. Peter opened his eyes to see a man in red, white, and blue standing over him, the two bad guys knocked out on the ground.

It was Captain America’s uniform, but as the hero helped Peter to his feet, he noticed that he looked awfully familiar. _“Steve?”_

“Hey, kid,” said Captain America, smiling at him. _Captain America._ “Let’s get out of here.”

***

Norman Osborne’s rant about how Tony Stark was a liar was interrupted by a breaking news alert telling the nation that Captain America was back, and he had rescued Spider-Man from an abandoned Oscorp warehouse. Osborne was arrested on live television, and forced to admit that it was his invention that accidentally chemically altered a child and made him a superhero.

“You know what the best part about this is?” MJ said conversationally as she, Pepper, May, and Tony watched it all. “Stupid Flash just lost his job.”

***

MJ was right - no one cared much about Spider-Man’s identity once they found out that the _real_ Captain America was alive and well. Steve was cooperative, giving a handful of friendly interviews as Peter was quietly ushered away in the background, none of the paparazzi any the wiser.

Peter hugged May first, and she held him so tight it looked like it hurt. There were more than a few tears as May half-heartedly scolded him for not telling her, and then pulled him in for another hug.  
  
MJ and Ned were waiting with open arms when Peter finally extracted himself from his aunt.   
  
“Johnny Storm is going to be so excited when she finds out you were rescued by Captain America,” said Ned. “The cat,” he clarified when his friends just looked at him blankly. “Storm? I told her about you guys. She knows you’re Spider-Man. It’s okay that I told her, right?”   
  
Steve and Tony watched the friends reunite with equally fond gazes. Finally, Peter turned to them. He threw himself into Tony’s arms first.

“Mr. Stark, thank you so much for what you did. I have no idea what would have happened without you and I never should have gone out at night without telling you or May and I’m sorry and I’ll never do it again, I promise -”

“Whoa, slow down,” said Tony, awkwardly patting his back. “Listen, kid - first of all, you can call me Tony. We’re at that point. And I know you’re sorry. Getting kidnapped usually does that to people. Someday, I’ll tell you all about the time I got kidnapped. But don’t worry about any of that right now. I’m just glad you’re safe.”

Peter let go of him with a bright smile and turned to Cap. “Thank you for rescuing me, uh - Captain America, sir.”

Steve ducked his head. “You don’t need to call me that. Steve is still fine.”

“Okay. Well, thank you, Captain Steve.”

Then Peter was pulled away by May, who wanted him to be checked for injuries. Before he left, though, he sent a meaningful look between Steve and Tony that was difficult to misinterpret.

Tony cleared his throat. “So.”

“So,” said Steve, brushing a hand through his hair, which was already sticking up in all different directions. His blue eyes were even more pronounced now that the glasses were gone, and his muscles looked more intimidating in his star-spangled outfit - which was ridiculous, by the way; Tony would have to make him a new one - if he got the chance. Again, Tony felt a sudden spike of fear. He really didn’t _know_ this version of Steve just yet. What if this version of Steve was different from the Steve he’d gotten to know over the last few months? He had said nice things earlier, but that was when Peter was missing. It might have been an in-the-moment kind of thing.

As if Steve could read his mind, he said softly, “I meant what I said earlier. We’re all going to be here for you from now on. But before that happens, I think - I should apologize.” He frowned. “I’ve never been good at keeping secrets, and… that’s because I don’t like liars. I did it for a mission, but that’s no excuse. I shouldn’t have lied to you for all those months. You didn’t deserve that, and neither did Peter or MJ, and I’m sorry.”

As soon as Steve launched into his apology, Tony’s fear melted away. This was the same Steve. His Steve. This version was even _more_ Steve, if that made sense, because this version was actually real.

“It’s okay,” said Tony, surprising himself. “You were doing your job. I - I mean, do you work for SHIELD? How exactly - uh, how is that working?” He had so many questions, he realized, but that was okay; he was eager to learn more. He tried not to babble. “When did they find you, by the way? Did you know that technically, Captain America is a trademark of Stark Industries, and -”

“Tony.”

“- therefore, you are mine.” He realized how that sounded, and backtracked. “I mean, like, legally.”

Steve was actually blushing, but he recovered quickly. “Tony, you should know that, legally or not… I was already yours.”

“Oh, God, that is so cheesy,” MJ interrupted, face-palming.

Peter wrinkled his nose as Steve and Tony leaned in for a chaste kiss. “Ew! C’mon, guys.”

“Hey, we just saved your butt,” said Tony, still wrapped in Steve’s arms and showing no signs of going anywhere. “We get a happy ending, too.”

***

**Three months later**

Pepper watched Tony and Peter bothering Bruce in the lab, Steve rolling his eyes at their antics. She smiled and turned away, heels clicking on the floor as she got in the elevator. She pressed the button for the lobby. She took a deep breath, straightened her shoulders, and prepared herself.

The doors opened to reveal a group of anxiety-ridden teenagers waiting for their internship tour and interview. This time, though, Pepper didn’t mind so much.

She was pretty good at choosing interns.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone should know that it took every ounce of self-control that I have not to include a joke about moving Peter to a secondary location in here somewhere (please see Kid Gorgeous). Anyway, thanks so much for reading and being patient. This took so much longer than anticipated, but I’ve never published over 30,000 words before so yay me!
> 
> Also, I’m working on a new Stony fic, post-Infinity War, so keep an eye on my Tumblr @marvelsmostwanted for that. :) I think I'll post that one all at once, because clearly I cannot be trusted with WIPs! 
> 
> <3 M


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